English
triceyr
CopyofAintIAWomanFullTextAnalysisSheet.docx1. As you read, think about how each paragraph could be paraphrased into your own words, and think about the tone of each paragraph. Please make a copy of this TONE WORDS LIST and place it in your Writing/Grammar Folder. Tone Video: https://youtu.be/l3yWmXbC36s
2. Colormark for RHETORICAL DEVICES and to determine the MAIN IDEA and TONE of each paragraph.
3. You will be sharing ONE USE OF A RHETORICAL DEVICE and the BEST TONE word for each paragraph. Choose a piece of textual evidence that supports your group’s chosen “tone word.”
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Background Information:
On May 29, 1851, Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and former slave, gave one of history’s most memorable speeches on the intersection between women’s suffrage and black rights. Speaking to the Ohio Women’s Convention, Truth used her identity to point out the ways in which both movements were failing black women. Over and over, according to historical transcripts, she demanded, “Ain’t I a woman?”
Born into slavery in 1797, Isabella Baumfree, who later changed her name to Sojourner Truth, would become one of the most powerful advocates for human rights in the nineteenth century. Her early childhood was spent on a New York estate owned by a Dutch American named Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. Like other slaves, she experienced the miseries of being sold and was cruelly beaten and mistreated. Around 1815, she fell in love with a fellow slave named Robert, but they were forced apart by Robert’s master. Isabella was instead forced to marry a slave named Thomas, with whom she had five children.
In 1827, after her master failed to honor his promise to free her or to uphold the New York Anti-Slavery Law of 1827, Isabella ran away, or, as she later informed her master, “I did not run away, I walked away by daylight….” After experiencing a religious conversion, Isabella became an itinerant preacher and in 1843 changed her name to Sojourner Truth. During this period she became involved in the growing antislavery movement, and by the 1850s she was involved in the women's rights movement as well. At the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention held in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth delivered what is now recognized as one of the most famous abolitionist and women’s rights speeches in American history, “Ain’t I a Woman?” She continued to speak out for the rights of African Americans and women during and after the Civil War. Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1883.
“Ain’t I a woman?” is a question that continues to resonate with black women today—169 years later. In 2018, more than 1,500 people joined the “Ain’t I A Woman” march in Sacramento. The black women’s rights march was organized in response to the “the overwhelming whiteness” of the Women’s March in Washington in the aftermath of US president Donald Trump’s election, and to highlight the multitude of issues black women face.
Watch Ain’t I A Woman Speech performed ; then summarize, noting the tone.
Extend Your Knowledge: 2017 HuffPost US: "'Ain't I A Woman' March Highlights The Need For Black Women's Voices Now" 2020 HuffPost US: "Kamala Harris Elected As First Black, Asian American US Vice President" : “Harris was able to break through because each Black woman, from Sojourner Truth to Stacey Abrams, risked her livelihood to ensure that a new path was attainable for Harris and those coming after her.” |
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PART ONE: Colormark the speech for rhetorical devices.
Repetition: the repeating of words or phrases. Put repetition in red text color.
Allusion: an indirect reference to some piece of knowledge that the author presumes the reader will know. Put allusions in blue text color.
Rhetorical Question: a statement that is formed like a question but is not intended to be answered. Highlight rhetorical questions in yellow.
Parallelism: the arrangement of words, phrases or clauses side by side, making them similar in form and structure for the purpose of comparing or contrasting. Highlight parallelism in blue.
PART TWO: Write a brief main idea and identify the tone underneath your group’s assigned paragraph. |
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women's Rights Convention, Old Stone Church (since demolished), Akron, Ohio
[1] Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
[2] That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? 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! And ain't I a woman?
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
[3] Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
[4] Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
[5] If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
[6] Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.
Main Idea of this paragraph:
Tone of this paragraph:
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PART THREE: After colormarking, discuss the answers to the following questions.
1. Sojourner Truth gave her speech in 1851, at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, speaking out about equal rights for black women. How does this parallel with what we’ve learned previously from Emily Dickinson and/or Kate Chopin? What are the key differences between the Truth and the other writers? 2. What is Truth’s purpose of delivering this speech? 3. Why does Truth repeat “Ain’t I a woman?” to the crowd. How does it emphasize her point of fairness among women based on their color? 4. Why does the author choose to use so many rhetorical questions? How does it emphasize the purpose of the speech? |
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