Posted by
Delos Howard on Thursday, October 09, 2008 12:51:36 AM
When I read and hear of the vicious attacks against Sara Palin, Condoleezza Rice, and other women selected or running for high level positions that does not flow with the far left view or agenda, I become confuse. The question I ask myself is, “What was the point behind the woman’s rights issue?” If a woman doesn’t agree with another woman’s issue, does that make her less of a woman then the women that is lashing out at her with disrespectful rhetoric? I remember reading a speech from a famous ex-slave, abolitionist, minister, and woman’s right activist, her name was Sojourner Truth. When she was fighting for equal rights for women, it wasn’t about issues another woman believes in, the issues another woman objects to, nor the woman’s’ faith.
This is Frances Gage's account of a speech given by Sojourner Truth at the Women's Rights Convention, 1851, in Akron, Ohio. She published the account in The History of Woman Suffrage, volume 1, co-authored with Susan B. Anthony, published in 1881.
Sojourner Truth: Abolitionist, Minister, Ex-Slave, Woman's Rights Activist
1881 Account by Frances Gage:
"Wall, chilern, whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin' out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Nork, all talkin' 'bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all dis here talkin''bout?
"Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles, or gibs me any best place!" And raising herself to her full height, and her voice to a pitch like rolling thunders, she asked "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me! Look at me! Look at my arm! (and she bared her right arm to the shoulder, showing her tremendous muscular power). I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear de lash a well! And a'n't I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen 'em mos' all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a'n't I a woman?
"Den dey talks 'bout dis ting in de head; what dis dey call it?" ("Intellect," whispered some one near.) "Dat's it, honey. What's dat got to do wid womin's rights or nig***'s rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed her significant finger, and sent a keen glance at the minister who had made the argument. The cheering was long and loud.
"Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wan't a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?" Rolling thunder couldn't have stilled that crowd, as did those deep, wonderful tones, as she stood there with outstretched arms and eyes of fire. Raising her voice still louder, she repeated, "Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin' to do wid Him." Oh, what a rebuke that was to that little man.
Turning again to another objector, she took up the defense of Mother Eve. I can not follow her through it all. It was pointed, and witty, and solemn; eliciting at almost every sentence deafening applause; and she ended by asserting: "If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder (and she glanced her eye over the platform) ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now dey is asking to do it, de men better let 'em." Long-continued cheering greeted this. "Bleeged to ye for hearin' on me, and now old Sojourner han't got nothin' more to say."
Amid roars of applause, she returned to her corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes, and hearts beating with gratitude. She had taken us up in her strong arms and carried us safely over the slough of difficulty turning the whole tide in our favor. I have never in my life seen anything like the magical influence that subdued the mobbish spirit of the day, and turned the sneers and jeers of an excited crowd into notes of respect and admiration. Hundreds rushed up to shake hands with her, and congratulate the glorious old mother, and bid her God-speed on her mission of "testifyin' agin concerning the wickedness of this 'ere people."
There isn’t a woman today that went through the trials and tribulations that Sojourner Truth experienced; I don’t need to repeat them. Even as a slave/ex-slave Sojourner Truth stood for women rights.
On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law, and women could vote in the fall elections, including in the Presidential election. Were personnel issues a factor during this struggle? Women supported each other, regardless of political party support and personnel issues, they all cheered with one voice.
In 1872, in an attempt to claim that the constitution already permitted women to vote, Susan B. Anthony cast a test vote in Rochester, New York, in the presidential election. She was found guilty, though she refused to pay the resulting fine. When Susan B. Anthony casted the vote, do you think she cared about abortion rights, or religious beliefs. Susan B. Anthony did what she knew was right for all women of her time.
During World War I, when women took up jobs in factories to support the war, as well as taking more active roles in the war than in previous wars. After the war, even the more restrained National American Woman Suffrage Association, headed by Carrie Chapman Catt, took many opportunities to remind the President, and the Congress, that women's war work should be rewarded with recognition of their political equality. Wilson responded by beginning to support woman suffrage. In a speech on September 18, 1918, he said,
“We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of right?” (http://womenshistory.about.com/od/sojournertruth/a/sojourner_truth.htm)
Party differences and belief difference was set a side to keep the United States strong, so, that we were able to defeat the enemy and maintain American pride and spirit.
History is full of examples of women coming together to prove that they deserve an equal playing field in life. Regardless of personnel issues, personnel beliefs, or personnel objectives, when a women is selected to a position of high authority that is equal to men and above men, you all should be cheering for that woman, and be happy that another woman made it.