Sojourner Truth is the pseudonym of Isabella (Belle) Baumfree. She was born in 1797 and died on November 26, 1883. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. She was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843 after she became convinced that God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside "testifying the hope that was in her". Her best-known speech was given extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title "Ain't I a Woman?," Sojourner Truth was from New York and grew up speaking Dutch as her first language. During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, she tried unproductively to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves.
In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine's list of the "100 Most Significant Americans of All Time".
After having given a little background about the author of the questions, let us answer them.
1. What is the argument that Sojourner Truth makes in her speech, "Ain't I a Woman?
A. She argues that women deserve the same rights as men, particularly the right to vote.
2. The phrase, "Ain't I a woman?" reiterated by Sojourner Truth in her speech is an example of what
rhetorical device?
C. Rhetorical question
3. The quote, "Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check
which has come back marked 'insufficient funds,' " is an example of what figurative language?
A. Analogy
