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Feature
Sojourner Truth
by Joanna Evans
The fight for suffrage drives a wedge between a spirited young woman and her mother. . . .
Characters
NARRATOR
REBECCA, 17 years old
MAMA, her mother
BEFORE RISE: NARRATOR enters, addresses audience.
NARRATOR: Did you know that women in the United States weren’t allowed to vote until 1920? That’s when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, extending voting rights to all women. If you do your math, you’ll find that women couldn’t vote for nearly 150 years after our nation was created out of the Revolutionary War. . .talk about injustice!
I have a very interesting story to tell you today. It’s about how women got together, starting in 1848 with the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, to fight to end slavery and secure the right to vote for all Americans.
It took a long time, but the fight they started paid off.
Two of the women at the forefront of these struggles were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton. They traveled widely, meeting with women, speaking to audiences large and small, urging an end to slavery and voting rights for all. Often traveling with them was a six-foot-tall black woman, a freed slave named Sojourner Truth. Her voice was heard in every hall and at every meeting, declaring “liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” the words etched on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
The end of the Civil War in 1865 brought about one of their goals: Slavery was no longer the law of the land. And in 1870, the right for black men to vote came with the passage of the 15th Amendment. However, the right for women to vote was no farther along in reality than it had been before the war.
For 70 years, women battled against the wrongfulness of the early laws that refused their rights as voting citizens. They also battled within themselves and with each other. That’s where this story begins, a year after the end of the bloodiest war in our history, the Civil War. Two generations of women find themselves in a room filled with tension, frustration, and fear. (NARRATOR exits as curtain opens.)
Use the passage to answer the question.
The play is set in New England in 1866. Why is this important to the structure of the play?
(1 point)
Responses
The Civil War had just ended, and the North was a safer place than the South for women who were fighting for voting rights for all.
The Civil War had just ended, and the North was a safer place than the South for women who were fighting for voting rights for all.
The Civil War was raging 1866, and New England was a safer place than the South for women to speak about ending slavery and gaining voting rights for all.
The Civil War was raging 1866, and New England was a safer place than the South for women to speak about ending slavery and gaining voting rights for all.
The 15th amendment was passed in 1866 in New England, giving women the right to vote.
The 15th amendment was passed in 1866 in New England, giving women the right to vote.
The 19th amendment was ratified in 1866 in Seneca Falls, New York, making it an important place in the fight for women’s suffrage.
1 answer
The most accurate response regarding the significance of the play's setting in New England in 1866 is:
The Civil War had just ended, and the North was a safer place than the South for women who were fighting for voting rights for all.
This response reflects the context after the Civil War, emphasizing the political and social climate that allowed women to advocate for their rights.
