"And Ain't I a Woman?" - Sojourner Truth

This strong making short declaration written by Sojourner Truth is kind of an anthem for the women of this time. It is written in a way that puts it into the literary genre of realism. Sojourner tells us of the suffering she has had in her lifetime; "That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman?" (Truth 370) She does on to tell us she can do just as much as any man could and then more. She tells of the suffering of women just like her from generations upon generations before her, and even after her life. Not only the black women, but the white ones too. There was a lot of suffering for women before the 1900's. She is telling this crowd, we are led to assume, about her suffering and how God had to have a woman to make people. This may not be one hundred percent accurate, but she gets a point across that everyone has come from a mother who just so happens to be a woman. She demands respect for her sex. She does not necessarily get it, but she does seem affective with her writing style.

This declaration can not only be put into realism, but it can also be put into the realism subset of regionalism. Regionalism, or local color as some know it, is a literary style "in which the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). This is exactly what "And Ain't I a Woman" is. It is about a woman who is protesting women suffrage in 1851. She tells of how she does not get any respect for first of all the color of her skin because she is an African American, and second her sex. She wants respect and more rights. True, this takes place in Ohio, but there was still some discrimination in the northern states at this time from white people to black people. So this region of the United States would be this region of the world where white people looked down on the black people even though they had no right to.

This writing reflects the 1850's because of the woman suffrage that happened in this time period. Women did not get very many rights until the early 1900's and it is evident that Sojourner Truth does not have very many rights because of the color of her skin. Their is also an issue of government in this story. The government is the thing that is refusing to give women their rights, so it is because of them we are given this piece of writing. Truth's human nature is reflected in her anger. It is in human nature to be angry when they are treated fairly and they should be. It is very evident Truth is quite upset with the suffrage that the government has given her.



Truth, Sojourner. "And Ain't I a Woman?." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 370. Print.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 11, 2011.