Ain't I a Woman?

In the posting below, titled "Powerful Women," I addressed this morning's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the supreme court.

Also this morning, as I read my devotional, it spoke of Sojourner Truth. An African American slave turned abolitionist and woman's rights pioneer, she was a powerful woman of another era.

But I'll let her speak for herself. Following is a small portion of her famous poem:

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!
And ain'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 as well!
And ain'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 ain't I a woman?

If de fust woman God ever made
was strong enough to turn de world upside down
all alone,
dese women togedder ought to be able to turn it back, and to get it right side up again!
And now dey is asking to do it,
de men better let 'em.


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