Ain't I a Woman

By: Brenna Norris

This wasn’t the first time I have read Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” and it definitely won’t be the last time.  This speech is so powerful for multiple reasons.  Women had finally started breaking the gender norms and began speaking out about inequality.  Sojourner Truth’s courage and determination is so powerful because not only is she making a very strong statement as a woman, but also as an African American. 

She is making a statement to society saying that if men think that women should get special privileges, that ALL women deserve those privileges.  She gives power to women as a whole saying even though we worship Christ, who is a man, without God and A WOMAN there would be no Christ.  She calls to women saying that if the first woman that God created was able to “turn the world upside down,” then so can we. Her speech isn’t just about being treated like “a woman,” but about stopping the inequality within the sexes.  Her speech, or performance, is so powerful and inspiring that we are still acknowledging, respecting and learning about it today.

Feminism has come such a long way since Sojourner Truth’s performance and this courage that she displayed has given other women courage to follow in her footsteps.  The feminist movement has been such a public outcry full of different forms of public performances, and these performances have slowly started breaking down social gender norms and stereotypes.

Below is a video of a woman named Alice Walker performing Sojourner Truth’s speech.  Watching someone else perform her same speech gives a new understanding and sense of power that continues to inspire women to continue to fight for change today.

Check out Alice Walkers reading here

We are all women,

we all deserve respect,

and we all deserve equal rights.

Together we are powerful.

First Wave Feminism

by: Norma Sevilla


Throughout time, women's feminist movements for social justice and equality have been divided into three waves. First-Wave feminism, which is our main focus for this week, flourished during the mid 19th and early 20th century. Their main focus during that time was women's emancipation from political restrictions, such as women's suffrage (women's right to vote).The reading that stood out to me the most from this week was "The Freedom of Woman" by Isadora Duncan. I really liked her interpretation of the body and I liked how she sees it as something beautiful and pure. She goes on to explain how exposing one’s body, while performing, is beautiful and pure. Throughout time people have created social taboos against women’s bodies so I think it’s crucial to have articles like “The Freedom of Woman” that tell us that bodies are beautiful and they are nothing to be ashamed of. As Duncan puts it herself, “the body is beautiful; it’s real, true, untrammeled. It should arouse not horror, but reverence” (Duncan 1992, 48-49). As I was reading "The Freedom of Woman," it reminded me of Pina Bausch's "Cafe Muller" (1978) and the trailer from the documentary "Pina Bausch: Dancing Dreams" we saw in class. Duncan's and Bausch's choreography is so different from the kind of dances I’m used to seeing but they are so unique and fascinating. I love how their choreography isn't just simply dance but art, theater, and different representations of life