Rhetorical Analysis Of Ain T I A Woman

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Sojourner was an advocate for women’s rights and an inspiring leader for abolishing slavery and enabling slave’s rights. In 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered her speech about racial inequalities, “ain’t I a woman”. I am choosing to use this speech as my primary source for my paper. This speech speaks to the underlying cause regarding sexual harassment that African American slaves endured. It did matter that they were women; all that mattered was that they were enslaved. Thus, being treated with the respect was stripped away from them. In fact, African American women slaves more than often; were victims of sexual harassment by the white women, white men, and even black who perpetrated these terrible acts for their own advantage. At the time of slavery, it was very …show more content…

They were not seen with respect or dignity, they were mere estate that would provide anything their owner’s required- even if that meant they would be sexually abused. It was very common for them to be sexually abused by the owners, or even forced to be inseminated if the masters’ wife was baron. It was even assumed that they were beneath men. In addition, to this outlandish belief that being a women would exclude you from having any rights equal to men; being that they were black only enhanced to this belief. In this speech, Sojourner Truth expresses her frustration about how she has been treated and questions why she is not equal to man. Truth conveys the inconsistency between how women should be treated verses how she has been treated her whole life, She writes, “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). Truth, addresses the ridiculous assumption that women should not have the same rights as

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