Nineteenth century

Sojourner Truth

c. 1797–1883

Preacher and abolitionist

Ain’t I a woman is Frances Dana Gage’s 1863 reconstruction, written in a dialect Truth did not speak. The 1851 report in the Anti-Slavery Bugle gives a different, plainer speech. That is the one kept here.

In the canon

I am a woman’s rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man.Speech at the Women’s Rights Convention, Akron

All voices