Equal Rights Of Women In The 1800's

In the early 1800’s, Women were denied some of the essential rights that men had. For instance, women could not own land or have the right to vote. In fact, women could even be fired from the job they currently had if they were pregnant. But just imagine this, if a woman wanted to establish a credit card, she needs her husband to authenticate that for her. And to top it off, women were even denied to go to college because of their gender, even if they have spectacular grades (Katie). Sadly, this is what made up women’s lives for a long period of time. Over the next seventy years, women had signed petitions, made speeches, and even marched in parades to earn the rights they have today. (http://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/women-who-fought-for-the-vote)

After she escaped slavery, Truth became involved in abolitionist work and women rights. In the beginning, Truth joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry organization in 1844, which supported women’s rights. (http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sojourner-truth) People in this organization believed "the rights of all are equal without distinction of sex, color or condition, sect or religion." (http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/educationindustry.html) Truth arrived in Ohio in May 1881 to speak fondly of the black population. She later heard of the women’s convention in Akron, and had to arrive there because of her interest in women’s rights. Several male ministers at the convention argued that women should not have equal rights as men because they were much weaker, men were more superior, and Jesus was a man and their first mother sinned. (https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/content/truth-woman-speech.html) Therefore, Truth later rose and spoke at the first National Women 's Rights Convention delivering her speech “Ain’t I a Woman?”. A prominent quote from her speech is “... 'cause Christ wasn 't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp ) This quote explains the fact that women, not men, were used to create Christ Himself. So why are women being treated unfairly for doing this? In this speech, Truth fused over the issues of color, gender, slavery and work. Truth’s words left the audience crying and speechless. Due to her heart-rending speech, it inspired Ohio women to stand up also. In the 1850 National Women’s Convention, Sojourner Truth even spoke there about the problems occurring.