SUPPOSE I AM ABOUT THE ONLY COLORED WOMAN
Fourth National Woman's Rights Convention,New York City, 1853:
Sojourner Truth, a tall colored woman, well-known in anti-slavery circles. . .made her appearance on the platform. This was the signal for a fresh outburst from the mob. . . Sojourner combined in herself. . .the two most hated elements of humanity. She was black, and she was a woman, and all the insults that could be cast upon color and sex were together hurled at her; but there she stood, calm and dignified, a grand, wise woman, who could neither read nor write, and yet with deep insight could penetrate the very soul of the universe about her. As soon as the terrible turmoil was in a measure quelled she said:
Is it not good for me to come and draw forth a spirit, to see what kind of spirit people are of? I see that some of you have got the spirit of a goose, and some have got the spirit of a snake. I feel at home here. I come to you, citizens of New York, as I suppose you ought to be. I am citizen of the state of New York; I was born in it, and I was a slave in the state of New York; and now I am a good citizen of this State. I was born here, and I can tell you I feel at home here. I've been lookin' round and watchin' things, and I know a little mite'bout Woman's Rights, too. I come forth to speak 'bout Woman's Rights, and want to throw in my little mite, to keep the scales a-movin'. I know that it feels a kind o' hissin' and ticklin' like to see a colored woman get up again; but we have been long enough trodden now; we will come up again, and now I am here.
I was a-thinkin', when I see woman contendin' for their rights, I was a-thinkin' what a difference there is now, and what there wa sin old times. I have only a few minutes to speak; but in the old times the kings of the earth would hear a woman. There was a king in the Scriptures; and then it was the kings of the earth would kill a woman if she come into presence; but Queen Esther come forth, for she was oppressed, and felt there was a great wrong, and she said I will die or I will bring my complaint before the king. Should the king of the United States be greater, or more crueler, or more harder? But the King, he raised up his scepter and said: "Thy request shall be granted unto thee- to the half of my kingdom will I grant it to thee!" Then he said he would hang Haman on the gallows he had made up high. But that is not what women come forward to contend. The women want their rights as Esther. She only wanted to explain her rights. And he wa so liberal that he said, " the half of my kingdom shall be granted to thee," and he did not wait for her to ask, he was so liberal with her.
Now, women do not ask half a kingdom, but their rights, and they don't get 'em. When she comes to demand 'em,don't you hear how sons hiss their mothers like snakes, because they ask for their rights; and can they ask for anything less? The king ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows which he prepared to hang others; but I do not want any man to be killers, but I am sorry to see them so short-minded. But we'll have our rights; see if we don't; and you can't stop us from them; see if you can. You may hiss as mush as you like, but it is comin'. Women don't get half as much rights as they ought to; we want more , and we we will have it. Jesus says: "What I say to one, I say to all-watch!" I'm a-watchin.' God says: "Honor your father and your mother." Sons and daughter ought to behave themselves before their mothers, but they do not. I can see them a-laughin' and pointin' at their mothers up here on the stage. They hiss when an aged woman comes forth. If they'd been brought up proper they'd have known better than hissing like snakes and geese. I'm 'round watchin' these things, and I wanted to come up and say these few things to you, and I'm glad of the hearin' you give me. I wanted to tell you a mite about Woman's Rights, and so I came out and said so. I am sittin' among you to watch; and every once and awhile I will come out and tell you what time of night it is.
Source: Mary Church Terrell Manuscript, Library of Conress, Washington, D.C.
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