Transcribe
Translate
NAACP newsletters, Fort Madison Branch, Fort Madison, Iowa, 1970
Page 004
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
-4- BLACK WOMEN and WOMEN's LIB... and Sojourner Truth... When "they" say that Black women are not participating in the current movement for Women's Liberation... "they" are ignoring facts which are very important in the "whole" picture of the growth of America. Black women have always been involved in the liberation of the American female. This role was played, perhaps, not by choice, but because of the peculiar position these women found themselves in. As a laborer, seamstress, servant. cook and artisan, she competed with the white male laborer and the white woman who had work. The fact that she did, in may instances, replace the white male as a laborer, the possibility of the same thing being done by the white women, came into being... and so, women began their long struggle for "liberation". Interesting enough.. or rather, one might say ... as has been the way of America, the arguments which were pressed forth, against the white woman working, were never used when it came to Black woman. This can best be proven by the following speech, which was given by Sojourner Truth, in Akron, Ohio in 1852, at the second National Woman Suffrage Convention. A lowly slave, who was a hard but ignorant worker,... a women who had borne may children and seen most of them sold, ... she came as a tall, Black woman, to a meeting of white women, and stood in the corner. The presiding officer was constantly cautioned against letting her speak, for fear that their cause would become mistakenly mixed up with the abolitionists movement. Everyone present, listened to warm discussions, concerning the superiority of the male intellect, the need of women for courtesy and the evilness of the sin of Eve, Then, Sojourner Truth started forward, Black and almost six feet tall... everything was still.,.. and she spoke! " Dat man ober dar say dat women needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to have the best places every whar. Nobody eber help me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gives me any best place, and ain't I a woman? Look at me ! Look at my arm! (And she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power.) "i have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me,... and ain't U a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well... and ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus hear... and ain't I a woman? Den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head... what dis dey call it" ("Intellect", was whispered by someone who was near her.) "Dats it, honey. what's dat got to do with women's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart. wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half measure full? If de fust woman God eber made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, all 'lone, dese togedder ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again, and now dey is asking to do it, de men better let 'em..." Frances Gage, who presided over that meeting, stated ; "Amid roars of applause, she turned to her corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with gratitude. She had taken us up in her strong arms and carried us safely over the slough of difficulty, turning the whole tide in our favor. I have never in my life seen anything like the magical influence that subdued the mobbish spirit of the day and turned the jibes and sneers of an excited crowd into notes of respect and admiration. Hundreds rushed up to shake hands and congratulate the glorious old mother and bid her God speed on her mission of 'testifying again, concerning the wickedness of this 'ere people.'" Sojourner Truth, Mammy Pleasants, Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell... and many, many others, far too numerous to name here, have played leadership roles in the liberation of women, and ultimately mankind! University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa Women's Archives.
Saving...
prev
next
-4- BLACK WOMEN and WOMEN's LIB... and Sojourner Truth... When "they" say that Black women are not participating in the current movement for Women's Liberation... "they" are ignoring facts which are very important in the "whole" picture of the growth of America. Black women have always been involved in the liberation of the American female. This role was played, perhaps, not by choice, but because of the peculiar position these women found themselves in. As a laborer, seamstress, servant. cook and artisan, she competed with the white male laborer and the white woman who had work. The fact that she did, in may instances, replace the white male as a laborer, the possibility of the same thing being done by the white women, came into being... and so, women began their long struggle for "liberation". Interesting enough.. or rather, one might say ... as has been the way of America, the arguments which were pressed forth, against the white woman working, were never used when it came to Black woman. This can best be proven by the following speech, which was given by Sojourner Truth, in Akron, Ohio in 1852, at the second National Woman Suffrage Convention. A lowly slave, who was a hard but ignorant worker,... a women who had borne may children and seen most of them sold, ... she came as a tall, Black woman, to a meeting of white women, and stood in the corner. The presiding officer was constantly cautioned against letting her speak, for fear that their cause would become mistakenly mixed up with the abolitionists movement. Everyone present, listened to warm discussions, concerning the superiority of the male intellect, the need of women for courtesy and the evilness of the sin of Eve, Then, Sojourner Truth started forward, Black and almost six feet tall... everything was still.,.. and she spoke! " Dat man ober dar say dat women needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to have the best places every whar. Nobody eber help me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gives me any best place, and ain't I a woman? Look at me ! Look at my arm! (And she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power.) "i have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me,... and ain't U a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well... and ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus hear... and ain't I a woman? Den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head... what dis dey call it" ("Intellect", was whispered by someone who was near her.) "Dats it, honey. what's dat got to do with women's rights or nigger's rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart. wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half measure full? If de fust woman God eber made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, all 'lone, dese togedder ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again, and now dey is asking to do it, de men better let 'em..." Frances Gage, who presided over that meeting, stated ; "Amid roars of applause, she turned to her corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with gratitude. She had taken us up in her strong arms and carried us safely over the slough of difficulty, turning the whole tide in our favor. I have never in my life seen anything like the magical influence that subdued the mobbish spirit of the day and turned the jibes and sneers of an excited crowd into notes of respect and admiration. Hundreds rushed up to shake hands and congratulate the glorious old mother and bid her God speed on her mission of 'testifying again, concerning the wickedness of this 'ere people.'" Sojourner Truth, Mammy Pleasants, Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell... and many, many others, far too numerous to name here, have played leadership roles in the liberation of women, and ultimately mankind! University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa Women's Archives.
Campus Culture
sidebar
