course materials

1. Discussion:Women As Leaders
Discussion:Women As Leaders ON Discussion:Women As LeadersCompare and contrast
three primary sources: Sojourner Truth’s 1851 Akron, Ohio speech (see attached); Amy
Jacques Garvey’s 1925 newspaper column ‘Women As Leaders’ (see attached); and former
First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech (see below) in New Hampshire in October 2016. All
three speeches address the subject of women and gender. From your reading of and
listening to the words of these three women from different historical time periods, how can
you tell problems women face have changed and how can you tell problems women face are
the same2 pages maximum, typed.Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain’t I A Woman? Speech
delivered extemporaneously on May 29, 1851 at the Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio First
version:1 I want to say a few words about this matter. I am for woman’s rights. I have as
much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped
and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard
much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too,
if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a
woman have a pint, and a man a quart – why can’t she have her little pint full? You need not
be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, – for we can’t take more than
our pint’ll hold. The poor men seems to be all in confusion, and don’t know what to do. Why
children, if you have woman’s rights, give it to her and you will feel better.
Discussion:Women As LeadersYou will have your own rights, and they won’t be so much
trouble. I can’t read, but I can hear. I have heard the bible and have learned that Eve caused
man to sin. Well, if woman upset the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again.
The Lady has spoken about Jesus, how he never spurned woman from him, and she was
right. When Lazarus died, Mary and Martha came to him with faith and love and besought
him to raise their brother. And Jesus wept and Lazarus came forth. And how came Jesus into
the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was
your part? But the women are coming up blessed be God and a few of the men are coming
up with them. But man is in a tight place, the poor slave is on him, woman is coming on him,
he is surely between a hawk and a buzzard. Second version:2 Well, children, where there is
so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the
South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix
pretty soon. Discussion:Women As LeadersBut what’s all this here talking about? That man
over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to
have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mudpuddles,

2. or gives me any best place! 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! 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 the
lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most 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? Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of
audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or
negroes’ Transcribed from Marius Robinson’s account of the speech which appeared in the
Anti-Slavery Bugle newspaper on June 21, 1851 2 As recalled by Frances Gage who chaired
the Akron, Ohio meeting and published this account in her book, History of Women’s
Suffrage in 1863. 1 rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t
you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full? Then that little man in black
there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’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. 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. Discussion:Women As LeadersObliged to you for hearing me, and now old
Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say. “Women As Leaders” by Amy Euphemia Jacques
Garvey (1925) Amy Euphemia Jacques Garvey (1896-1973) was a forceful advocate of
women’s rights and was one of the foremost political leaders, archivists, and interpreters of
the Garvey movement. As Marcus Garvey’s second wife, she frequently represented her
husband at public meetings and events. She was a regular columnist in the Universal Negro
Improvement Association’s (UNIA) newspaper, The Negro World. She was a key participant
in the famous Fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester, England, in 1945. Her 1963
book Garvey and Garveyism was partially responsible for reviving interest in the UNIA and
the Garvey movement. The exigencies of this present age require that women take their
places beside their men. White women are rallying all their forces and uniting regardless of
national boundaries to save their race from destruction, and preserve its ideals for
posterity. . . . White men have begun to realize that as women are the backbone of the home,
so can they, by their economic experience and their aptitude for details, participate
effectively in guiding the destiny of nation and race. No line of endeavor remains closed for
long to the modern woman. She agitates for equal opportunities and gets them; she makes
good on the job and gains the respect of men who heretofore opposed her.
Discussion:Women As LeadersShe prefers to be a bread- winner than a half-starved wife at
home. She is not afraid of hard work, and by being independent she gets more out of the
present-day husband than her grand-mother did in the good old days. The women of the
East, both yellow and black, are slowly but surely imitating the women of the Western
world, and as the white women are bolstering up a decaying white civilization, even so
women of the darker races are sallying forth to help their men establish a civilization
according to their own standards, and to strive for world leadership. Women of all climes
and races have as great a part to play in the development of their particular group as the
men. Some readers may not agree with us on this issue, but do they not mould the minds of

3. their children the future men and women? Even before birth a mother can so direct her
thoughts and conduct as to bring into the world either a genius or an idiot. Imagine the
early years of contact between mother and child, when she directs his form of speech, and is
responsible for his conduct and deportment. Discussion:Women As LeadersMany a man has
risen from the depths of poverty and obscurity and made his mark in life because of the
advices and councils of a good mother whose influence guided his footsteps throughout his
life. Women therefore are extending this holy influence outside the realms of the home,
softening the ills of the world by their gracious and kindly contact. Some men may argue
that the home will be broken up and women will become coarse and lose their gentle
appeal. We do not think so, because everything can be done with moderation. . . . The doll-
baby type of woman is a thing of the past, and the wideawake woman is forging ahead
prepared for all emergencies and ready to answer any call, even if it be to face the cannons
on the battlefield. New York has a woman Secretary of State. Two States have already had
women Governors, and we would not be surprised if within the next ten years a woman
graces the White House in Washington, D.C. Women are also filling diplomatic positions,
and from time immemorial women have been used as spies to get information for their
country.White women have greater opportunities to display their ability because of the
standing of both races, and due to the fact that black men are less appreciative of their
women than white men. The former will more readily sing the praises of white women than
their own; yet who is more deserving of admiration than the black woman, she who has
borne the rigors of slavery, the deprivations consequent on a pauperized race, and the
indignities heaped upon a weak and defenseless people? Yet she has suffered all with
fortitude, and stands ever ready to help in the onward march to freedom and power. Be not
discouraged black women of the world, but push forward, regardless of the lack of
appreciation shown you. A race must be saved, a country must be redeemed, and unless you
strengthen the leadership of vacillating Negro men, we will remain marking time until the
Yellow race gains leadership of the world, and we be forced to subservience under them, or
extermination. We are tired of hearing Negro men say, “There is a better day coming,” while
they do nothing to usher in the day. We are becoming so impatient that we are getting in the
front ranks, and serve notice on the world that we will brush aside the halting, cowardly
Negro men, and with prayer on our lips and arms prepared for any fray, we will press on
and on until victory is over. Africa must be for Africans, and Negroes everywhere must be
independent, God being our guide. Mr. Black man, watch your step! Ethiopia’s queens will
reign again, and her Amazons protect her shores and people. Strengthen your shaking
knees, and move forward, or we will displace you and lead on to victory and to glory.
Source: “Women as Leaders,” from The Negro World (October 25, 1925) …Purchase answer
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