An Analysis of the Poem “Ain’t i a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth

If one has ever been called a nigger or looked down upon when entering a room, one knows the pain of discrimination. The hard reality that faces the women of the north and the blacks of the south today is the same. The northern women have been fighting for the right to vote while the blacks have been fighting for their freedom. White men are supposed to be more powerful and much smarter than black women, but then why aren't they given the right to prove themselves?

Many men argue that men are more powerful than women. They say that women should be treated with the care and delicateness of a fragile glass figurine. Many slaves in the south, men and women, work under the hot, burning sun for endless hours plucking cotton from the thorny branches of the cotton trees, which have often cut me. The sweat that often blinded my vision before the afternoon hit also provided comfort to my arms. My arms tell the story of the hardship that many of my fellow Negroes had to endure at the hands of the white man. The life of servitude that I was born into was no dream of mine. Neither do I, and the same is true for my children, who were also sold off before they reached the age of thirteen. The plight we endure each day can only be compared to that endured by the Jews several centuries ago. I know Jesus understands what my people and I are going through. I pray to God and ask him for the same type of wisdom afforded to his children.

Men are naturally given all the rights, but they abuse them to make our lives a living hell. It goes beyond my comprehension to know that this union of ours only survives under the care of God. In the Bible, it states, "Treat one another as you would like to be treated." We are all children of God and therefore have to abide by his rules. It says that we need to have compassion for the weak and give charity to those in need. So, why do the men who rule this country and claim to be God's people deny us our rights?

Men answer these questions with "Jesus was a woman." But my reply to that is, "Then who gave birth to Jesus? Mary, a woman who labored through excruciating pain to give birth to our savior, Whom did he die for? All of us, and not just the men.

Eve is said to have caused the children of God to be doomed to death because she tricked Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. If a woman was powerful enough to do that, then why are they not letting us prove that we can fix the world? It has been said that nothing is more cared for than something that is touched by women. When we protest for our rights, they better listen, or we'll make them listen!

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