'AIN’T I A WOMAN?’ AIN’T THE TRUTH

On 29 May 1851, at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth - an unflinching abolitionist, formerly enslaved African woman and women's rights advocate - delivered one of the most revolutionary speeches in Black liberation history that’s famously known for the line, ‘Ain’t I a woman?’ 

Historians have since challenged whether Truth uttered those words. Nonetheless, many regard Sojourner's speech as a direct rebuke to both white supremacist patriarchy and the racist erasure of Black womanhood in early feminist movements.

Today, her legacy remains a rallying call, not only for Black women rights, but also for the liberation of all oppressed people across the globe. Here, we break down the controversy surrounding Sojourner’s speech.