You may be familiar with the name Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth was a great lady who was both an emancipator and a suffragette. In the late 1840s the Akron Convention was held to expound upon women’s rights. Ironically, most of the speakers at the convention were men — men who proclaimed the inferiority of women, of all things. Men who announced that women had no contribution to make to the community beyond that of being a homemaker. Men who believed that women lacked the sound judgment necessary to be registered voters. Men who held forth that women lacked the ability required to conduct financial matters. Men who were certain that women were incapable of owning and operating a business.
When one male speaker announced the superior intelligence of men over women, Sojourner Truth could no longer remain silent. She mounted the steps leading up to the platform. Forcing the speaker to one side, she boldly stood before the assembly. Shocked at what just occurred, the audience fell silent. Then Sojourner Truth spoke words that all could hear. “Suppose a man’s mind holds a quart,” she said, “and a woman’s don’t hold but a pint; if her pint is full, it’s as good as his quart.”
We would laugh at such logic today. Probably all of us can think of people we know, both men and women, who are running about a quart low. Still, we can thank God this is one controversy that can be laid to rest.
Is one sex better than another? Certainly not! Is one race better than another? Certainly not! Is one nationality better than another? Certainly not! Is the entrepreneur better than the laborer — the educated better than the uneducated — the politically powerful more important than the common citizen? Certainly not! Each of us has a special gift and talent to be recognized and respected. Each of us has a contribution to make, without which we would all be less. Each of us has a unique potential. To have the mind of Christ is to see another’s potential.
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Another version:
http://www.csun.edu/~jr8265/truth%20and%20tubman.htm
The Classic Report
Several ministers attended the second day of the Woman’s Rights Convention, and were not shy in voicing their opinion of man’s superiority over women. One claimed “superior intellect”, one spoke of the “manhood of Christ,” and still another referred to the “sin of our first mother.”
Suddenly, Sojourner Truth rose from her seat in the corner of the church.
“For God’s sake, Mrs. Gage, don’t let her speak!” half a dozen women whispered loudly, fearing that their cause would be mixed up with Abolition.
Sojourner walked to the podium and slowly took off her sunbonnet. Her six-foot frame towered over the audience. She began to speak in her deep, resonant voice: “Well, children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out of kilter, I think between the Negroes of the South and the women of the North – all talking about rights – the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this talking about?”
Sojourner pointed to one of the ministers. “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. And ain’t I a woman?”
Sojourner raised herself to her full height. “Look at me! Look at my arm.” She bared her right arm and flexed her powerful muscles. “I have plowed, I have planted and I have gathered into barns. And no man could head me. And ain’t I a woman?”
“I could work as much, and eat as much as man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me. And ain’t I a woman?”
The women in the audience began to cheer wildly.
She pointed to another minister. “He talks about this thing in the head. What’s that they call it?”
“Intellect,” whispered a woman nearby.
“That’s it, honey. What’s intellect got to do with women’s rights or black folks’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?”
“That little man in black there! He says women can’t have as much rights as men. ‘Cause Christ wasn’t a woman.” She stood with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. “Where did your Christ come from?”
“Where did your Christ come from?” she thundered again. “From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!”
The entire church now roared with deafening applause.
“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it the men better let them.”