Sojourner Truth Vs. Martin Luther King's Ain T I A Woman

Though the constitution stated that individuals had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, these liberties did not extend themselves to the minority. Sojourner Truth,a woman activist fought for enslaved African Americans and women suffrage. An ex slave, Sojourner Truth travelled the world with her impudent attitude and strong will to engage in situations that involved human rights. Her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman” questions if others know her desire for freedom. Decades later, minorities were still fighting for freedoms. Activist, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of his desire and longing for answered dreams of freedom. Both Truth and King wrote powerful speeches to dispel the reality of their time, to capture the voice of the

Dr.King uses a metaphor to compare a “sacred obligation” to “a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." which means that society made promises to African Americans that were not kept at all (I Have a Dream 1). He also uses imagery to compare the walk to a long journey of racial discrimination; he says, "We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back." Another example of imagery is when King says, “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” Martin Luther King’s imagery indicates that the valley is the African American’s low point of discrimination and hurt, while the sunlit path is the future of equality. King and Truth used these literary devices to give more meaning to what they wanted for African Americans and the unjust

In “Ain't I a Woman”, Truth creates a tone of fearlessness and passion. Truth becomes outraged in parts of the poem to establish a more powerful tone which the audience could relate to. She states, “ That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages….Nobody ever helps me into carriages... And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me!” to emphasize she never got treated like men or even whites for that matter. Throughout Truth’s speech, she repeats the phrase “Ain’t I a Woman?” to reiterate her frustration and irritation of the racial inequality. Towards the end of “Ain’t I a Woman”, Truth speaks to the women by telling them to come together and fight for equality. She states, “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 they is asking to do it, the men better let them.(Ain’t I a Woman