I have read the Declaration of Sentiments before in a high school history class. It was interesting to return to Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s words with the lens of increased feminist awareness and understanding. Ellen Dubois, along with Ariel Levy and Alice Echols, connected the feminist movement to the civil rights and abolitionist movements. The fact that race issues preceded feminist revolutions in both cases is revealing. These movements fostered feelings of rebellion against oppression. When women activists began to feel the sting of their own oppression, they progressed naturally towards a female revolution. For white women this meant a movement all their own. They were fighting for themselves. The condition for black women was slightly more complicated. Black women straddled the border between two unsatisfying options. In abolitionist/civil rights movements they were already fighting for themselves in a way that white women were not. But black women were neglected by the males in these movements. Feminism represented women, yes, but the issues raised were primarily those white women experienced. Black women were forced to choose between these two options.
With this in mind, Sojourner Truth proves to be a compelling figure. She lends her strong and famous voice to the first wave of feminism. However, much of her fame is precisely because she did not conform to the status quo. She acknowledges this by saying “I am about the only colored woman that goes about to speak for the rights of the colored woman” (Freedman, 65).
This was not my first exposure to Truth. A few years ago, I read her speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” [I included a link to this speech below] It was wonderful to read these other speeches of hers now after gaining a heightened sensitivity to both minority and gender issues along with a better understanding of her historical situation.
Her style is very different from other speakers such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Truth brings a gritty, honest perspective to the women’s movement and personalizes it in ways Stanton does not. Truth refers to the audience as “chil’n” (Freedman, 65). This conveys a casual, visceral approach to the assembly. I can relate to truth’s work on such a level; it gives me chills.
Stanton’s approach is very different. The picture of formality, she uses irony and whit in a more subtle speech pushing toward equality. She appeals to logic where Truth appeals to emotions. I appreciate the educated, thorough approach. Reading through her resolves, I began to critically consider whether or not these goals had been met 150 years later. Many have been, the vote for example. However, others seem still to be beyond our grasp. Certainly women enjoy equality to a much greater degree than Stanton did, but it is not complete. Her resolved that men and women be held to the same moral standards has yet to be achieved completely. I offer an over-used example but a valid one nevertheless; woman can still be labeled “whores” for their promiscuity while men are rewarded for equitable behavior. Rarely, males may be called “man whores.” Even then however, the term “whore” is qualified with the masculine implying that it is inherently a female marker.
http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/sojour.htm -> link to “Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth
Follow up post...
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Cady Stanton starts off her address extremely powerfully. She states that all men and women are created equally and therefore have inalienable rights that were given to them by their creator. These rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She also says that, “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends; it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and insist upon the institution of a new government”. From these few sentences it seems as though Stanton shares similar radical beliefs as Beauvoir. She explains that if the government in power is not allowing citizens their God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness then they should be overthrown and replaced with a new government. This is a clear case of a feminist wanting to work outside the confines of the law which is what Beauvoir believes is necessary for feminist success. Stanton counters these radical statements later in her address when she talks about all of the things that can be done within the confines of the government to form equality amongst men and women. She then closes her address with a list of resolves to help feminism that all seem to be allowable by law. This approach is much less radical and is more similar to the approach taken by Friedan. Even though Stanton sends two different messages during her address, I am confident that she is more like Friedan than Beauvoir in terms of how radical she is. Something else that interested me about this address was the way that she spoke about men helping the feminist cause. Up until this point we have only visited the things that women can/want to do to abolish inequality. Stanton is the first woman to contextualize the importance of men in the feminist movement.
In the next excerpt, “Two Speeches “, by Sojourner Truth is comprised of two separate speeches. The first is set in May of 1951 during a time of slavery, while the other is in May 1867, directly after slavery is abolished. The first speech is about how women are able to labor just as efficiently and capably as men are and while they may not be as smart they are capable of having some rights. She then begins to reference the bible by saying that Eve sinned and hurt mankind but that women should have a chance to redeem themselves. It is evident that this is the most rudimentary form of feminism because while she is asking for rights, she is admitting that (in her mind) men are smarter than women. She is not asking for equality, necessarily, she is just asking for more rights and privileges than women have.
Her second speech struck me as somewhat revolutionary. Sojourner Truth essentially predicts what is going to happen once black men start gaining rights. Once slavery was abolished black men slowly gained more and more rights and, as Truth predicted, black women were forgotten about. This is also great foreshadowing to the dilemma black women faced during the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Black women had to decide whether they wanted to continue being a part of the Civil Rights Movement, or join the feminist movement. In both scenarios black women are in a very binding spot. This is because even if African Americans, as a whole, are gaining rights, it doesn’t mean that African American women are. Additionally, even if women as a whole are gaining rights it doesn’t mean that African American women necessarily are. It seems that Sojourner Truth has brought up some interesting points way before her time.
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ReplyDelete“Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
ReplyDeleteIn “Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions” Elizabeth Cady Stanton uses the Declaration of Independence as a model to create the Declaration of Sentiments. By tweaking the Declaration of Independence to her advantage, she was able to get her point across. More specifically, by “substituting for the colonists’ grievances against the king of England those of women against men” (Freedman, 57). Stanton explains that man has dominated women through a system of “tyranny” throughout history (Freedman, 58). She goes on to list various ways that man has oppressed woman. Just a few examples are that he has “closed off all the avenues to wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself” by dominating jobs that are deemed profitable and “he has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed to her”(Freedman, 57). Something that I find important is that Stanton differentiates between the subjugation of married and single women. Later on Stanton demands that women obtain all “the rights and privileges, which belong to them as citizens of the United States” (Stanton, 60). And she relates the law of Nature to women. What is the law of Nature? Stanton explains, “the great precept of nature is conceded to be, that ‘man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness’” (Freedman, 60). It seems that there is a call for equality in this document. And Stanton ends the declaration on the note that both men and women are needed for the success of the feminist movement.
“Two Speeches” by Sojourner Truth:
In her first speech, in May of 1851 Sojourner starts off by providing examples of how she is just as strong as a man. She goes on to say, “As for as intellect, all I can say is, if women have a pint and 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” (Freedman, 64). Then Sojourner references Adam and Eve and a short biblical anecdote about Jesus, Lazarus, Mary and Martha. Eventually, she ends her first speech by explicitly stating that change is soon to come as the poor slave and woman are advancing.
In her second speech, in May of 1867 Sojourner talks about being a woman of color. She talks about the future power struggle between colored men and women if colored men obtain their rights. She goes on to mention the difference in pay between men and women. Sojourner says, “ I used to work in the field and bind grain, keeping up with the cradler, but men doing no more, got twice as much pay; so with the German women” (Freeman, 65). In essence, “Truth called for equal rights for both former slaves and all women” (Freeman, 63).
“Feminism Old Wave And New Wave” by Ellen DuBois:
Ellen DuBois begins “Feminism Old Wave And New Wave” by providing three working definitions of feminism. She then goes on to state that the first feminist wave ran from 1835 to 1920 and the second began in the middle of the sixties. DuBois talks about how women in both of these waves were pretty much rejected from being politically involved in reform movements; “The New Left had dedicated itself to equal justice for all, and yet right in its midst woman felt they were not quite being treated as political equals”(DuBois, P3). In 1837, DuBois mentions Sara and Angelina Grimke who began to speak out against slavery and in 1848 “these same two women organized the first woman’s rights convention in the United States, the Seneca Falls Convention”(DuBois, P.8). She goes on to say that women realized that they could not politically trust male reformers to fight for women equality. In the end, DuBois states “men were incapable of fully understanding the oppression of women”(DuBois p.15).