Ain't I a Woman?
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| - | '''''Ain't I a Woman?: Black women and feminism''''' is a 1981 book by [[bell hooks]] titled after [[Sojourner Truth]]'s "[[Ain't I a Woman?]]" speech. hooks examines the effect of [[racism]] and [[sexism]] on black women, the [[civil right]]s movement, and [[feminist]] movements from [[suffrage]] to the 1970s. She argues that the convergence of sexism and racism during slavery contributed to black women having the lowest status and worst conditions of any group in American society. White female [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]] and suffragists were often more comfortable with black male abolitionists such as [[Frederick Douglass]], while southern [[Racial segregation|segregationalists]] and stereotypes of black [[female promiscuity]] and immorality caused protests whenever black women spoke. hooks points out that these white female reformers were more concerned with white morality than the conditions these morals caused black Americans. | + | "'''Ain't I a Woman?'''" is a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by [[Sojourner Truth]] (1797–1883), born into slavery in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech was delivered at the Women's Convention in [[Akron, Ohio]], on May 29, 1851, and did not originally have a title. |
| - | Further, she argues that the stereotypes that were set during slavery still affect black women today. She argued that slavery allowed white society to [[stereotype]] white women as the pure goddess [[virgin]] and move black women to the seductive whore stereotype formerly placed on all women, thus justifying the devaluation of black femininity and rape of black women. The work which black women have been forced to perform, either in slavery or in a discriminatory workplace, that would be non-gender conforming for white women has been used against black women as a proof of their emasculating behaviour. bell hooks argues that [[black nationalism]] was largely a patriarchal and [[misogynist]] movement, seeking to overcome racial divisions by strengthening sexist ones, and that it readily latched onto the idea of the emasculating black ''[[matriarch]]'' proposed by [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan]], whose theories bell hooks often criticizes. | + | The speech was briefly reported in two contemporary newspapers, and a transcript of the speech was published in the ''Anti-Slavery Bugle'' on June 21, 1851. It received wider publicity in 1863 during the [[American Civil War]] when [[Frances Dana Barker Gage]] published a different version, one which became known as '''''Ain't I a Woman?''''' because of its oft-repeated question. This later, better known and more widely available version has been the one referenced by most historians. |
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| - | Meanwhile, she says, the "feminist movement", a largely white middle and upper class affair, did not articulate the needs of poor and non-white women, thus reinforcing sexism, racism, and [[classism]]. She suggests this explains the low numbers of black women who participated in the feminist movement in the 1970s, pointing to [[Louis Harris]]' [[Virginia Slims]] poll done in 1972 for [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]] that she says showed 62 percent of black women supported "efforts to change women's status" and 67 percent "sympathized with the women's rights movement", compared with 45 and 35 percent of white women (also Steinem, 1972). <!-- Please verify the quoted sections are the exact phrasing of the survey. --> | + | |
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| - | The book is commonly used in gender studies, Black studies, and philosophy courses. | + | |
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| - | ==See also== | + | |
| - | * [[Black feminism]] | + | |
| + | ==Background== | ||
| + | [[File:Official medallion of the British Anti-Slavery Society (1795).jpg|thumb|upright|left|"Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" – 1787 medallion designed by [[Josiah Wedgwood]] for the British anti-slavery campaign]] | ||
| + | [[File:Am I Not A Woman And A Sister.jpg|thumb|right|1830s image of a slave woman saying "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"]] | ||
| + | The phrase "Am I not a man and a brother?" had been used by British [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]] since the late 18th century to decry the inhumanity of slavery. | ||
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Revision as of 11:15, 26 December 2020
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"Ain't I a Woman?" is a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth (1797–1883), born into slavery in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech was delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, on May 29, 1851, and did not originally have a title.
The speech was briefly reported in two contemporary newspapers, and a transcript of the speech was published in the Anti-Slavery Bugle on June 21, 1851. It received wider publicity in 1863 during the American Civil War when Frances Dana Barker Gage published a different version, one which became known as Ain't I a Woman? because of its oft-repeated question. This later, better known and more widely available version has been the one referenced by most historians.
Background
[[File:Official medallion of the British Anti-Slavery Society (1795).jpg|thumb|upright|left|"Am I Not a Man and a Brother?" – 1787 medallion designed by Josiah Wedgwood for the British anti-slavery campaign]]
thumb|right|1830s image of a slave woman saying "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"
The phrase "Am I not a man and a brother?" had been used by British abolitionists since the late 18th century to decry the inhumanity of slavery.
