Ain't I a Woman?
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1851
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 3 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendNarrative of Sojourner TruthPenguin Classics, 1998Nell Irvin Painter's edition prints both the 1851 newspaper report and Frances Gage's 1863 version of the speech.
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A short speech Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved woman and travelling preacher, gave without notes at the Woman's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in May 1851. She answered ministers who claimed women were too weak for rights by pointing to her own labour in the fields and the loss of her children, and argued from scripture that Christ came from God and a woman. The famous refrain comes from Frances Gage's 1863 reconstruction in dialect; the 1851 report by Marius Robinson reads differently.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Ain't I a Woman? are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.