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Marcus Robinson wrote this transcript of Sojourner Truth's speech. Sojourner Truth delivered the speech at the1851 Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

"I want to say a few words about this matter. I am a woman's rights. I have as much muscle as any man and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. … But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him, he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard."Women’s Rights and Anti-slavery Movements

Analyze and compare Documents A and B to answer this essential question:

Were the women's rights movement and the anti-slavery movement related?

List three key phrases or points from the document.
(One has been done for you.) How does this document help you to answer the essential question?
Document A • Sojourner Truth was a woman and former slave.

1 answer

Document A: Sojourner Truth’s Speech

  1. "I am a woman's rights."
  2. "I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed..."
  3. "But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him..."

How does this document help you to answer the essential question?

This document illustrates a direct connection between the women’s rights movement and the anti-slavery movement through the perspective of Sojourner Truth, who represents the intersection of both struggles. Her emphasis on her strength and capabilities as a woman echoes the broader fight for women's equality. Additionally, her acknowledgment of the plight of the enslaved individual and her assertion that both women and enslaved people are oppressed by men highlights the struggle for liberation shared by both movements. Truth's speech argues that just as women deserve rights and recognition, so too do the enslaved, showcasing the intertwined nature of these social justice movements in their fight against oppression and inequality.