Rhetorical Analysis Of Sojourner Truth's Speech

Sojourner Truth was a powerful speaker back in a time when slavery was still a toxic epidemic ravaging our great nation. She was a freed slave from Egypt who could not read or write but instead had people read to her passages, especially one’s from the Bible, for inspiration for her speeches (Sojourner Truth Memorial). Her most famous speech was delivered at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. Truth’s “I Ain’t a Woman” speech was recorded by several sources at the time but was not recorded by the president of the convention, Frances Gage, until nearly twelve years later. Gage wrote the speech in a Southern dialect but Truth never lived in the south. In actuality, the speech most likely would have been given in a Dutch dialect …show more content…
She uses slang such as “seen” and phrases such as “But what’s all this here talking about?”. The use of all this type of language shows that Truth is “plain folk”. Truth uses pathos in her speech as she appeals to mothers in the crowd with this line: “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!” This allows the mothers to feel a deep emotional connection to Sojourner Truth and the plight that she went through. The way she states this segment as well makes the connection not only to African American mothers but white mothers as well. This link between black and white creates a stronger speech appeal and reaches a broader audience. Truth also uses strong logos in her lecture. As she exclaimed, “Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gather into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman?” she is reaching out to the men in the audience. She is creating a connection to the work they do and the work the African American slave women do. This logic could not be disputed by the men in the audience. The similarities between what the two separate genders can do enforces her main point that woman in American should have the same rights as men. Finally, Truth’s appeals to ethos. She spoke out in crowd and said, “If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours hold a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?” She is basically saying that if men have all this power already, why can they not let women have just a little bit? She adds this bit into her speech as it aids in her opinion that it is ethically right for men to let women have rights within America which is exactly what she hoped to accomplish with her speech. All the appeals representatively add elements that keep her audience