by Joanna Evans
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.
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.)
Sojourner Truth, by Joanna L. Evans © This play is reprinted from Plays, The Drama Magazine for Young People with the permission of the publisher Plays/Sterling Partners Inc. 897 Washington Street #600160, Newton, MA 02460
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
How does the playwright use language to engage the audience?
(1 point)
Responses
The narrator asks questions and uses exclamations to appear more animated to the audience.
The narrator asks questions and uses exclamations to appear more animated to the audience.
The narrator discusses historical figures like Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony that the audience might be familiar with.
The narrator discusses historical figures like Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony that the audience might be familiar with.
The narrator uses contractions like “that’s” and “weren’t” to make the text casual for the audience.
The narrator uses contractions like “that’s” and “weren’t” to make the text casual for the audience.
The narrator addresses the audience directly with words like “you” and “our.”
The narrator addresses the audience directly with words like “you” and “our.”
1 answer
The correct response is:
The narrator addresses the audience directly with words like “you” and “our.”
This choice highlights how the playwright engages the audience by creating a connection through direct address, making the historical context feel relevant and personal.
