1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. We are 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: picking up where we left off last time in the 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: story of Sojourner Truth. Last time we talked about her 6 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: enslavement in the Hudson River Valley in New York and 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: how a religious vision after she was free led to 8 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: her moving to New York City. Today we are picking 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,320 Speaker 1: up with another vision, which marked another huge shift in 10 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: how she lived her life. And since this is a 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: two parter, I really recommend listening to part one first. 12 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 1: We're gonna directly refer to it a few times, including 13 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: right out of the gate. So after the collapse of 14 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: Father Matthias's religious community the Kingdom, Isabelle has spent several 15 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: difficult years in New York City. She felt as though 16 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: everything she had tried to do in New York had failed, 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: and she felt like she herself had failed as well. 18 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: She wasn't generous enough, she wasn't kind enough. She felt 19 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: that she was too selfish and greedy. An example she 20 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: gave in her narrative was that a man where she 21 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: was living would give her a dollar to hire a 22 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: poor person to clear the walk, but she would clear 23 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: the walk herself and keep that money, reasoning that she 24 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: needed it because she was poor too. And in eighteen 25 00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: forty three she began to see herself as quote unfeeling 26 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: selfish and wicked. On June one, eight forty three, she 27 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: had another religious experience in which she felt called to 28 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: completely change her life, to leave the city of New 29 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: York and to go east and preach, as had happened 30 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: and the experience that had led her to go to 31 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,560 Speaker 1: New York earlier. This happened around Pentecost. She put a 32 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: few things into a pillow case. She told the woman 33 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: who ran the house where she was staying that she 34 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: was leaving, and she said that she had a new name. 35 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: That new name was so Journal. When asked why she 36 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: was going east, she said, quote, the spirit calls me there, 37 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 1: and I must go east. Really meant going across Long Island, 38 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 1: and along the way, she asked God what her last 39 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: name should be, and the name that came to her 40 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: was Truth, So Journal. Truth's time as an itinerant preacher 41 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,120 Speaker 1: happened during the religious revival known as the Second Grade Awakening, 42 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: but more specifically, a man named William Miller had been 43 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: developing a huge following. His followers came to be known 44 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: as Miller Writes. In eighteen twenty two, based on a 45 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: series of complicated equations, he announced that he had determined 46 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: the day that Christ would return to Earth, at which 47 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: point the righteous would ascend to Heaven. When he had 48 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: made this announcement back in eighteen two, hadn't named a 49 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: specific date when this is going to happen, but some 50 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: of his followers had put forth the day of March 51 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: eighteen forty three. That date had already come and gone 52 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 1: when so Journal took her new name and started traveling east. 53 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,799 Speaker 1: But Miller had said from the start that Christ could 54 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: come as late as eighteen forty four, so as so 55 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: Journal Truth was traveling along Long Island, the Millerites were 56 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: eagerly awaiting this event, which was now expected to happen 57 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: on March onety four. So Journer herself was not a Millerite, 58 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 1: and she didn't think Miller's predictions were accurate at all, 59 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: but the popularity of the movement really paved the way 60 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: for her preaching. Tent meetings were a big part of it, 61 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: and there were other women preachers at these meetings, including 62 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: other black women, so there were places that she could 63 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: preach with a congregation there to hear her. People were 64 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: also really ready for her style of preaching, which was 65 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: really dynamic and energetic and very well versed in scripture. 66 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: It was infused with the perfectionist ideas that people could 67 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: free themselves from sin through willpower and religion. It was 68 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: full of her own lived experiences and her own understanding 69 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: of God and of the Bible. She had a very informal, 70 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: kind of folksy way of speaking, and she had a 71 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: very striking appearance. Thanks to her height of nearly six 72 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: feet and her ay for smoking a pipe. Her reputation 73 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: started to really spread, and she started arriving at tent 74 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: meetings to find out that people were really hoping she 75 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: would be one of the people who was coming there 76 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: to preach. A series of predicted dates for the Millerites 77 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: return of Christ came and went. The last of those 78 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: dates was October twenty eighteen forty four, which became known 79 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: as the Great Disappointment. The Millerite movement fell apart after that, 80 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,559 Speaker 1: but many of its members continued on with their religious work. 81 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: These included Ellen Harmon, who later married James White and 82 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: co founded the Seventh Day Inventist Church. So after the 83 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: Great Disappointment, Truth kept in touch with a lot of 84 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: the same people, moving through the Seventh day Adventist circles 85 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: the way that she had moved through the Millerites. By 86 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: that point, so jour in her Truth had moved to 87 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: Massachusetts and had joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, 88 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 1: which was also called the Community. This was a utopian 89 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: community that was centered on a silk mill, and that 90 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: silk mill was communally operated by the commun unity members 91 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: as free labor. This was a somewhat unexpected place for 92 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: Truth to end up. Even though Massachusetts has a strong 93 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: connection to the movement for the abolition of slavery, Northampton 94 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: was really conservative. It was a popular vacation spot for 95 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: slave owners from the South, and racism was prolific in 96 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 1: the area surrounding the community. It was also kind of 97 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: unexpected considering what had happened the last time. So journal 98 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: Truth joined a communal living situation, which we talked about 99 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: in Part one. But the Northampton Association of Education and 100 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: Industry was so much different from Father Matthias's Kingdom. The 101 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: community was home to reformers and radicals that had been 102 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: founded by ten families who believed in the abolition of 103 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: slavery and the granting of full citizenship rights to free 104 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: black people. Although there were some religious elements to all this, 105 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: in general, the community was really about trying to abolish 106 00:05:55,320 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: slavery and inequality, not about proselytizing. The community also had 107 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: more liberal views on gender. Everyone in the community was 108 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: allowed to choose what work to do, with the exception 109 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: of preparing mulberry leaves, which was necessary for everyone to 110 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: help with, and this meant that women were not just 111 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: put into domestic roles by default. We've talked about several 112 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: utopian communities on previous episodes, and one of the difficulties 113 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: that we have talked about, and several of them, is 114 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,559 Speaker 1: members of the community not really pulling their own weight 115 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: in terms of keeping the whole thing running. People a 116 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: lot of times joined utopian communities with kind of an 117 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,599 Speaker 1: idealistic idea of of how that's going to go, and 118 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: it really turns out to involve a lot of incredibly 119 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: hard work that people aren't necessarily ready for at the community. 120 00:06:41,839 --> 00:06:44,920 Speaker 1: So journal truth, worked incredibly hard, and she was also 121 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,239 Speaker 1: one of the people who kept everyone else in line 122 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: when it came to doing their share of the work. 123 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: She held everyone else to extremely high standards, but she 124 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: held herself to those same standards as well. Two of 125 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,640 Speaker 1: Sojourner's daughters, Elizabeth and Sophia, joined her at the community 126 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty four, and this reunion was both joyous 127 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: and challenging. So Journer hadn't always been able to be 128 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: close to her daughters, both because of their enslavement and 129 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 1: because of her religious work in New York City, so 130 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: it was actually pretty difficult for the three of them 131 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: to try to build a close relationship now that the 132 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: girls were in their late teens. Plus, Sophia was pregnant 133 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: by a man that she had been living with, and 134 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: that carried a lot of emotional baggage for so Journer. 135 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: There were questions surrounding some of Sojourner's own pregnancies, and 136 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: these were questions that she mostly avoided now that she 137 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: was living as a preacher. But aside from that, she 138 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: regretted not being able to be more present in her 139 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: daughter's lives to possibly bring them to a different outcome 140 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: than the one that she had had herself. While living 141 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: at the community, so Journer began meeting and developing connections 142 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:54,119 Speaker 1: with prominent figures in the movements for abolition and women's rights. 143 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,040 Speaker 1: This included William Lloyd, Garrison's brother in law, George Benson, 144 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: and in eighteen forty four, Rison himself. Connecticut abolitionists also 145 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: used the community as their headquarters. The American Anti Slavery 146 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: Society had split in eighteen forty because some of its 147 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: members found Garrison's beliefs to be too radical, and once 148 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: that happened, Garrison's supporters had no formal organization in Connecticut, 149 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: so they organized from the community instead. Just to note, 150 00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: among Garrison's more radical beliefs that caused this split, where 151 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: that the United States Government should be totally rebuilt to 152 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: be anti slavery from its foundation, rather than trying to 153 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: add anti slavery reforms to the existing government. So Journer 154 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: also met Frederick Douglass at the community, and in his 155 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,079 Speaker 1: What I Found at the Northampton Association he described her 156 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: this way, I met here for the first time, that 157 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: strange compound of wit and wisdom, of wild enthusiasm and 158 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: flint like common sense, who seemed to feel it her 159 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: duty to trip me up in my speeches and to 160 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: ridicule my efforts to speak and act like a person 161 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: of cultivation and refinement. I allude to sojourner truth. She 162 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: was a genuine specimen of the uncultured negro. She cared 163 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: little for elegance or refinement of manners. She seemed to 164 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: please herself and others best when she put her ideas 165 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,439 Speaker 1: in the oddest forms. She was much respected at Florence, 166 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: for she was honest, industrious, and amiable. Her quaint speeches 167 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: easily gave her an audience, and she was one of 168 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: the most useful members of the community in its day 169 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: of small things. There's just so much going on in 170 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: that discreption. Well, and it's also I have always enjoyed 171 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: his writing because even though this is pros, the cadence 172 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: of it feels very poetic to me, Like I just 173 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: like the way he assembles numbers of syllables together in 174 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: one sentence. It's very pleasing. Yeah, Florence was sort of 175 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: the place in Northampton where all of this was going on. 176 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: And it's clear from this that um Frederick Douglas in 177 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: some ways really respec acted her and in some ways 178 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: didn't really and also that she did not necessarily have 179 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 1: a lot of patients for Frederick Douglas. Sometimes I imagine 180 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: he really respected her but found her to be a 181 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: pain in the neck. Okay, that's the vibe I get 182 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: from this. Yeah. Yeah. It was also in Northampton, That's 183 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: so Journer Truth and all of Gilbert collaborated on Sojourner's autobiography, 184 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: and we will talk about that after a quick sponsor break. 185 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: While living in Northampton, so Journer Truth worked with all 186 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: of Gilbert to write her autobiography, and the result was 187 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: the narrative of Sojourner Truth, A Bondswoman of Olden Time, 188 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: first published in eighteen fifty. It was published along with 189 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: statements from white abolitionists attesting to so Journer's character into 190 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: the validity of the book. By that point, the community 191 00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: itself had dissolved, but several of its members had remained 192 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: in Northampton. So Journer was introduced to Olives through a 193 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: mutual friend, probably Sarah Benson. Both Sarah and Sojourner were 194 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: taking the Water Cure at David Ruggles Hydrotherapy Center in Florence, Massachusetts, 195 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: which is part of Northampton Ruggles. Was one of the 196 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: abolitionists who helped Frederick Douglas escape from slavery, as well 197 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: as being the first black bookseller in the United States. 198 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: He died in eighteen forty nine, which was a huge 199 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: blow to the abolitionist movement and to Sojourner Truth personally. 200 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: Olive and so Journer worked together on the autobiography because 201 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: so Journer hadn't learned to read or write. A very 202 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: few copies of her signature that exists today really resemble 203 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: a child's earliest attempts to write their names, and there's 204 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: been a lot of speculation about why this is. It 205 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: was not common at all for enslaved people in New 206 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: York to be taught to read or write, But by 207 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: the late eighteen forties, when she was working on this book, 208 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: so Journer had been free for about fifteen years, and 209 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: she had also been surrounded by educated, affluent people, especially 210 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: during her time at the Northampton community. It's really likely 211 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: that several of these people would have encouraged her to 212 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: learn to read or offered to teach her themselves. So 213 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,800 Speaker 1: there are a lot of hypotheses for why Sojourner didn't 214 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: learn to read after becoming free, and one is that 215 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: she may have had a learning disability, a visual perception disorder, 216 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: or a psychological block brought on by being sold to 217 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: an English speaking home when she spoke only Dutch and 218 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: then beaten for not understanding the language that she did 219 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: not know. It is also possible that she didn't trust 220 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: the act of writing, or that she feared that if 221 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: she learned to write, it would weigh down her mind 222 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: or crowd out the voice of the Holy Spirit in 223 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: her head. Also, this is really a question that is 224 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: a lot more common today than it was when she 225 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,960 Speaker 1: was living, because it was really common for people not 226 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,319 Speaker 1: to know how to read or write, especially people of color, 227 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 1: regardless of whether they've ever been enslaved, and especially women 228 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:59,959 Speaker 1: regardless of their race. Whatever the reason, when sojourn Or 229 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: started collaborating with all of Gilbert, she did not know 230 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: how to read or write, And the book they created 231 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 1: together is written in the third person, so it reads 232 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: more like Olive's observation of what Sojourner told her about 233 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: her life, rather than Sojourner's own words directly from her 234 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 1: own mouth. Even so, we don't have really a lot 235 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: of reason to doubt the book that they ultimately made together, 236 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: and Sojourner stood by it for the rest of her 237 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: life and directed people to it when they had questions. 238 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: It is also the only narrative we have of an 239 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: enslaved person in Dutch New York. It's it's really likely 240 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: that that all of influenced things about it, But for 241 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: so journous whole life. People would ask her questions and 242 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: she'd be like, it's all in the book. So she 243 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 1: she clearly supported it. One of the things that so 244 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: journal Truth did with this autobiography was to sell copies 245 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: to fund her own needs, her own living, and her 246 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: own lecture tours, and she toured extensively. By the eighteen forties, 247 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:00,680 Speaker 1: she was active on a lecture sir It and her 248 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: height and her commanding voice and her keen intelligence made 249 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,079 Speaker 1: her stand out. She was the first woman to really 250 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: come to prominence as a speaker in the abolitionist movement 251 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: in the United States. In the eighteen fifties, so journal 252 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: embarked on a twenty two state lecture tour. Her speeches 253 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: ranged through abolition, women's rights, religion, and the political issues 254 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: of the day. This included stridently denouncing the Compromise of 255 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, which was meant to appease the slave states 256 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: after California applied to join the Union as a free 257 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: state in eighteen forty nine without a corresponding slave state. 258 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: To preserve what was considered the balance. Among other things, 259 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: the Compromise of eighteen fifty amended the Fugitive Slave Act. 260 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: This eighteen fifty revision to the Act required the United 261 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: States government to help slave owners recapture escaped slaves, including 262 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: the right to pursue escaped slaves into free territory. There 263 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,040 Speaker 1: were also penalties for sheltering or helping escaped slaves, and 264 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: every person of African descent was really at risk for 265 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:07,920 Speaker 1: being captured and sold into slavery. This bill was nicknamed 266 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: the Bloodhound Bill by its opponents because it was basically like, 267 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: We're gonna hire a bunch of bloodhounds to track down 268 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: all the escaped people. On October twenty three, and eighteen fifty, 269 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: so Journer attended the first National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, 270 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: and there she gave one of many speeches that connected 271 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: the cause of abolition to the cause of women's rights, 272 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: and afterward the convention resolved to include quote the trampled 273 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: women of the plantation in their advocacy. We have talked 274 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: about which of them followed through on that in other 275 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: episodes of the show. It's definitely not something where they 276 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: had this meeting in Worcester and then immediately all got 277 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: on board with the cause of abolition and black women's rights. 278 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty one, so Journer attended another women's rights 279 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: conference in Akron, Ohio, and it was at this one 280 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: that she gave her speech that's us known today as 281 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: eight iole Woman. Sometimes it's also presented as Aren't Ile Woman, 282 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: And we're going to be talking about the speech a 283 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: lot more a little bit later in the show, but 284 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:10,960 Speaker 1: this is where it happened in the timeline. Over the 285 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties, so Journer became increasingly well known for her speaking, 286 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: which was often at least partly extemporaneous. At least once, 287 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: she amused audiences by saying something along the lines of 288 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 1: I have come here out of curiosity to hear what 289 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: I have to say. I would love that. She was 290 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: also very direct, and she did not back down from 291 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 1: challenging other people. In eighteen fifty two, she was listening 292 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: to Frederick Douglas give a speech in Salem, Ohio, in 293 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of eighteen fifty 294 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: He had become more militant, saying, quote, the way to 295 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: make the Fugitive Slave Law a dead letter was to 296 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: make a few slave hunters dead men. As he started 297 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 1: calling for enslaved people to rise up by force, so Journer, 298 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: who was really not in favor of violence and all this, 299 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,360 Speaker 1: called out, Frederick is God Gone? Sometimes this is described 300 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,400 Speaker 1: as having happened much later at Faniel Hall in Boston, 301 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: with the question being Frederick is God dead? Either way, 302 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: she was basically asking Frederick Douglas in public whether he 303 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,919 Speaker 1: had lost his faith after the dread Scott decision. In 304 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, she began speaking about the Constitution as 305 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: infested with weevils, drawing comparison to a wheat weevil infestation 306 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: that had been devastating crops. That same year, she sold 307 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,679 Speaker 1: her property in Northampton and bought a small home in 308 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,920 Speaker 1: Battle Creek, Michigan, where she became active in the area's 309 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: spiritualist community. She was into a lot of trendy practices 310 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: of the day, including spiritualism, phrenology, and hydrotherapy. Yeah, we 311 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: didn't really mention it earlier, but her book sales and 312 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: other work was like it funded things like buying a 313 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: house of her own, that kind of stuff. So Journer 314 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: also became really known for bucking gender norms in a 315 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: very visible way, beyond just her habit of smoking a 316 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: pipe in public, and she also got a reputation for 317 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 1: being pretty defiant. The Boston Liberator wrote about one incident 318 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: that happened in Indiana in eighteen fifty eight in which 319 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: the men in the audience questioned whether she was really 320 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: a man in disguise. Here is what they said. Quote. 321 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: So Journer told them that her breasts had suckled many 322 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: a white babe, to the exclusion of her own offspring, 323 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: that some of those white babies had grown to man's estate, 324 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: that although they had sucked her colored breasts, they were, 325 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,880 Speaker 1: in her estimation, far more manly than they her prosecutors 326 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,639 Speaker 1: appeared to be, and she quietly asked them, as she 327 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:42,159 Speaker 1: disrobed her bosom, if they too wished to suck. In 328 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,359 Speaker 1: vindication of her truthfulness, she told them she would show 329 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: her breast to the whole congregation, that it was not 330 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: to her shame that she uncovered her breast before them, 331 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: but to their shame. The US Civil War began in 332 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty one, and by that point so Journer was 333 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: struggling with her health. She had spent about twenty years 334 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,199 Speaker 1: traveling and speaking out against slavery and in favor of 335 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: women's rights in the last decade or so, had been 336 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: through increasingly dangerous territory as conditions became more violent in 337 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,120 Speaker 1: advance of the war. Although her health started to improve 338 00:19:14,160 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty three, she just didn't have the kind 339 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,719 Speaker 1: of stamina that had been necessary for her long ranging 340 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:23,240 Speaker 1: speaking tours in the eighteen fifties. During the Civil War, 341 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: so Journal helped recruit troops to fight for the Union 342 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: and encouraged the Union to add the abolition of slavery 343 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: to its objectives for the war. In eighteen sixty four, 344 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: she met President Abraham Lincoln, and after the war she 345 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: moved to Washington, d c. And then to the Freedman's 346 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:40,640 Speaker 1: village in Arlington to try to work with the freed 347 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:43,360 Speaker 1: people and help them adjust to life outside of slavery. 348 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: This included teaching the sorts of homemaking skills that people 349 00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: who had been working in the fields their whole lives 350 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 1: hadn't really had an opportunity to learn. She also helped 351 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: care for hospital patients in the years after the war. 352 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,679 Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty five, she was supposed to attend a 353 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: reception in advance of Lincoln's second and faguration, but she 354 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,959 Speaker 1: was turned away on account of her race. Her escort, 355 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 1: Captain George Cars, answered, if she is not good enough 356 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 1: to enter, then I am not. Lincoln later apologized for 357 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:16,959 Speaker 1: that having happened. After the Civil War, Sojourner continued fighting 358 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,080 Speaker 1: for civil rights, both through her speaking and through her actions. 359 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: She advocated adding women's rights to the Reconstruction Amendments. As 360 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: cities started formally segregating by race, she started intentionally boarding 361 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: segregated street cars, sometimes staying on board longer than she 362 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,919 Speaker 1: needed to just to press the issue. At one point, 363 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: this led to a conductor dislocating her shoulder when he 364 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: forcibly removed her from the car. She got him fired, 365 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: and he was arrested on charges of assault and battery. 366 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,920 Speaker 1: She also filed suit against the street car conductor who 367 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: tried to keep her from boarding. Life became increasingly difficult 368 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,680 Speaker 1: in Washington, d c. As the influx of freed people 369 00:20:56,840 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: sparked a backlash among white residents. Sojourner had been trying 370 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,120 Speaker 1: to get freed people jobs in Washington, but she gradually 371 00:21:04,160 --> 00:21:09,000 Speaker 1: began relocating people to other cities instead, particularly Rochester, New York. 372 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: Eventually she moved back to Battle Creek, Michigan. She renewed 373 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,959 Speaker 1: her focus on women's rights, especially black women's rights, along 374 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: with helping the poor. In the late eighteen seventies, she 375 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: began working on a plan to resettle freed people to 376 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: homesteads in the West, although that never came to fruition. 377 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,680 Speaker 1: She gave her last public lecture in eighteen eighty one. 378 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: By that point, she had met three US presidents and 379 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: had spent decades publicly preaching and publicly advocating for abolition, 380 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,120 Speaker 1: women's rights, and civil rights. Even so, she had had 381 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: to make a habit of carrying a scrap book full 382 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: of newspaper clippings about herself and signatures of prominent white 383 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: abolitionists and women's rights activists, because otherwise people who hadn't 384 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 1: already heard of her didn't really take her seriously because 385 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: of her race. In the last few years of her life, 386 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,719 Speaker 1: Sojourner Truth is cared for by her daughters and by 387 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:07,240 Speaker 1: her doctor, John Harvey Kellogg. She died on November three, 388 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: at the age of about eighty six, possibly due to 389 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:14,479 Speaker 1: complications of diabetes or gang green. Her last known words 390 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,879 Speaker 1: were be a follower of Jesus. But the words that 391 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: people are a lot more familiar with from sojourn or 392 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: Truth are ain't ile woman. And we will finally get 393 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: to that part after one last sponsor break. So, like 394 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: we said earlier in the show, So journal Truth gave 395 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: the speech that is known today as ain't ile Woman 396 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: an akron Ohio in eighteen fifty one, and the most 397 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,800 Speaker 1: well known version of this speech was published by Francis 398 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: Gage in the New York Independent on April eighteen sixty three. 399 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: Earlier that month, Harriet Beecher Stowe had published a story 400 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,199 Speaker 1: in the Atlantic called Sojourner Truth the Libyans Sybil, and 401 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: this was one year after she published her anti slavery 402 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. In the Atlantic article, Stow recounts 403 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 1: meeting Truth quote many years ago, and she relates being 404 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 1: introduced after which Truth says, well, Honey, de lord bless you. 405 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: I just thought I'd like to come and have a 406 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: look at you use here to me. I reckon. Stowe's 407 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: account goes on to portray so Journal Truth as a 408 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,639 Speaker 1: very stereotypically Southern slave, with her speech rendered in a 409 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: really thick dialect, so thick. I don't know about you, Holly, 410 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: I'm not comfortable reading it out loud. Just reading the 411 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: part that I just read felt weird and gross, um, 412 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: and also a little bit funny to me because, as 413 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: we have mentioned, she was not from the South right, 414 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:47,680 Speaker 1: so it makes it super weird and gross. Yeah. Well, 415 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: and so we said in the top of part one 416 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: that there are a lot of videos on YouTube of 417 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: black women performing this speech, and I am not criticizing 418 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 1: any of that at all. I'm saying that, like, the 419 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,879 Speaker 1: speech has written in such a thickly dialected way that 420 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: for a white woman to try to recreate it feels bad. 421 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: In addition to this really really thickly uh presented language, 422 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: so also makes a whole bunch of factual errors in 423 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: this article, including saying that so journal Truth had been 424 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: brought to the United States from Africa, which she was 425 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: not she was born in Dutch New York, and also 426 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,480 Speaker 1: saying that so journal Truth was as of eighteen sixty 427 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: three when the article came out dead, which she was not. 428 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: So journal Truth knew about the speech, she was not 429 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: fond of it. She pointed out how many elements of 430 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,040 Speaker 1: it were wrong, including saying that she did not call 431 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: people honey and that she did not refer to people 432 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,160 Speaker 1: of her race using the N word, which is from 433 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: a part of the article we did not read. The 434 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: Atlantic was widely circulated in eighteen sixty three, So this 435 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 1: article is what introduced so journ Truth to a lot 436 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: of the United States, especially people who were not already 437 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:08,959 Speaker 1: moving in abolitionist or women's rights circles. And it almost 438 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: certainly inspired France's Gage to put together her recollections of 439 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: sojournals acron ohio speech from twelve years before. So this 440 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: title that we know the speech by today, which is 441 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,919 Speaker 1: an't iole woman, comes from a line that's repeated several 442 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: times engages a version, including in this passage that man 443 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,680 Speaker 1: over dar say that woman needs to be helped into 444 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: carriages and lifted over ditches, and to have the best 445 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages or over 446 00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:40,639 Speaker 1: mud puddles, or gives me any best place? And aren't 447 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,199 Speaker 1: ile woman? Look at me? Look at my arm. I 448 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no 449 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: man could head me. And aren't ile woman? I could 450 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:52,560 Speaker 1: work as much and need as much as a man 451 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 1: when I could get it. I bear to lash as well, 452 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: And aren't ile woman? I have borne thirteen children and 453 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 1: seen a most all sold off into slavery, And when 454 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard, 455 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: And aren't I a woman? This version of this speech 456 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: was reprinted in the eighteen seventy five edition of Sojourn 457 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,199 Speaker 1: or Truce Autobiography, and in the book History of Woman's 458 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,120 Speaker 1: Suffrage by Elizabeth Katie Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda 459 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: Joslyn Gage in eighteen eighty one, and all of that 460 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,239 Speaker 1: has led to it being so widespread today. But the 461 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: oldest known written account of the akron Ohio speech is 462 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: not from eighteen sixty three, which was twelve years after 463 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: it happened. It's from the June twenty one, eighteen fifty 464 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 1: one issue of the Anti Slavery Bugle and it includes 465 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,399 Speaker 1: some really similar sentiments to that more well known version. 466 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,440 Speaker 1: Here is a quote quote, I am a woman's rights. 467 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: I have as much muscle as any man, and can 468 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: do as much work as any man. I have plowed 469 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,120 Speaker 1: and reaped, and husked and chopped and mode, and can 470 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,080 Speaker 1: any man do more than that? I have heard much 471 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much 472 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 1: as any man, and can eat as much too, if 473 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: I can get it. I am as strong as any man. 474 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: That is now. This version also includes a line that 475 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,880 Speaker 1: appears almost word for word in the other version, as 476 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: well as for intellect, all I can say is if 477 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: women have a point and a man a court, why 478 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,639 Speaker 1: can't she have her little pointfull? Both versions also include 479 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: the point that Jesus was born from God and a woman, 480 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: and that man had no part in it. What the 481 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one version doesn't include is aren't iowaman or 482 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:36,320 Speaker 1: ain't io woman, which is repeated in France's Gauge's version 483 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: four times, so there are questions about whether so during 484 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: Our Truth really said that part at all. It's also 485 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: very similar to am I not a woman and a sister? 486 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: Which was taken from an engraving and abolitionist George burns 487 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty seven book Slavery illustrated in its effects upon women. 488 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,879 Speaker 1: By the eighteen fifties, am I not a woman and 489 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: a sister was a slogan in the movement for abolition 490 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: and and all. This has led to a lot of 491 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 1: debate about exactly what Sojournal Truth said in eighteen fifty 492 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: one and just how much Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances 493 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: Gauge crafted their depictions of her around their own preconceptions 494 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: rather than around anything she actually said or did. It 495 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: is clear that both Stowe and Gauge portrayed Truths in 496 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: a way that made her seem like an uneducated and 497 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: even an intelligent Southern enslaved person when she was really 498 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: a native Dutch speaker who spoke at least two languages 499 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,760 Speaker 1: and also had a very keen intellect. And they both 500 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: did so to capitalize on prior work. Harriet Beecher Stowe 501 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,720 Speaker 1: was building on the popularity of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and 502 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: Frances Gauge was building on the popularity of Stowe's essay 503 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: in the Atlantic. Uncle Tom's Cabin had also influenced so 504 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: Journal Truth's own speeches because after that book came out, people, 505 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: especially when they were hearing abolitionist lectures, were a lot 506 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: more interested in hearing her stories from her enslavement rather 507 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: than hearing about anything else she might want to talk about. 508 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: But it's not accurate to suggest that the most famous 509 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: version of eight ile woman was made up out of 510 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: whole cloth, as some viral posts on the internet might suggest. 511 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: In multiple other speeches, Sojourner Truth made the point that 512 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: women were expected to receive gracious and genteel treatment, but 513 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 1: she was not, even though she was a woman. And 514 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: there's definite overlap between the eighteen fifty one and eighteen 515 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 1: sixty three versions of the speeches. But as we've said, 516 00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:32,800 Speaker 1: the eighteen sixties three version is written in this heavy 517 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: Southern inspired dialect, even though she did not speak like 518 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: that at all, although she did, as we also mentioned, 519 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: have a casual folksiness to her speech. Yeah, a lot 520 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: of the other people who noted her speeches and published 521 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: them somewhere and like ablissness, newspapers and that kind of 522 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: thing a lot of time have like some some apostrophes 523 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: that drop letters off of the end of words, or 524 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,719 Speaker 1: some non standard uses of verb, agreement, or something like that, 525 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: but not remotely the like almost impossible to read versions 526 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,920 Speaker 1: of Frances Gage and Harry Beatrice do. So it's like 527 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: it's it's clear that there was sort of a rhythm 528 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: and a quaintness about her speech, but it doesn't seem 529 00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: like it was the way those two women tried to 530 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: reproduce it. Also, because sojourn or Truth didn't read or write, 531 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: really everything we know about her and her speeches is 532 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: filtered through other people, and almost all of the other 533 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: people who have written down that things that she said 534 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: were white. Ultimately, she had a lot more control over 535 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 1: her image than she had over her words. She sat 536 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: for photographs several times later in her life, after photography 537 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 1: became a more common thing for people to do. She 538 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: very carefully chose her clothing and her posture and the 539 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: other objects in these photos. Her appearance in them is 540 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: always very tidy and very reserved. She's often wearing a 541 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 1: shawl or holding some knitting, and these pictures suggest still 542 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: a lot of things. They suggest simplicity and domesticity, but 543 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: also refinement and productivity and self reliance. A lot of 544 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 1: the photographs are printed with the caption I sell the 545 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: shadow to support the substance, and that was the slogan 546 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: that she used to describe why she was selling both 547 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: her picture and the story. Also, I'm not totally sure 548 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: how to wrap up this whole conversation, but it does 549 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: really really remind me of Chief Seattle's speech that he 550 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: never made, which we just put out there in a 551 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: Saturday Classic in advanced of this episode, because the like, 552 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: the one thing that a lot of people know about 553 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: Chief Seattle besides the city of Seattle was named after him, 554 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: was that he supposedly made this speech in eighteen fifty 555 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: four that was like super environmental in its themes, and 556 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 1: so they have this image of like Chief Seattle as 557 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: this uh like native person who personified um environmental awareness. 558 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: But really that version that is so i'dely quoted in 559 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: environmental context is by a guy named Ted Perry, and 560 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: it was written in the nineteen seventies, so like it's 561 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,720 Speaker 1: I they're I feel like there are a lot of 562 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: parallels between Sojourner Truth and Chief Seattle in that way, 563 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: both in how their words were used in a way 564 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: that they doesn't necessarily reflect them at all, and the 565 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 1: fact that like that one use of language has become 566 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 1: the thing that people associate with them. I will just 567 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 1: say that I love photographs of Sojourner Truth, particularly when 568 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:35,280 Speaker 1: she has her little narrow wire frame glasses on. Yeah. Yeah, 569 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: she just looks like a woman one. She looks smart, 570 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: like there is a light in her eyes. It's like, 571 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: I know exactly what you're about. But to to um, 572 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: there's something very sweet looking about her at the same time, Yeah, 573 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: and I think it's the glasses. I admittedly like, I 574 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: love a pair of glasses, so it automatically endears me 575 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: to people. But I really really love those photographs of 576 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: her where she's sitting with her glasses and she kind 577 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 1: of looks like I'm not have and you're not, um, haven't. 578 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: I read a quote about her somewhere along the way 579 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: in doing the research for this, and then I couldn't 580 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 1: track down the origin of it, but it was a 581 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: description that was something like she had a heart of 582 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: gold and a tongue of fire, and I was like, yeah, 583 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: that makes sense. And I also I think that an 584 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,040 Speaker 1: i Ale woman's speech has obviously meant a lot to 585 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: a lot of people, So the fact that it has 586 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: this complicated history to me doesn't mean that it's suddenly 587 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: like not worthwhile to read or listen to you or 588 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: or some of the really amazing renditions of it that 589 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: you can see on the internet, Like, I feel like 590 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: those still have a lot of meaning even though there's 591 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: all there all these questions about them. Yeah, I mean, 592 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 1: the sentiment of it is valuable to consider, but as 593 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: we discussed at length in this episode, the way it's 594 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: been presented has been a little bit dicey at times, 595 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 1: and and it's worthy of examination without necessarily robbing that 596 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: idea of the questions that should be asked that are 597 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: associated with it from their own own imports. Yeah, it does. 598 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: It does sadden me that because that's the one thing 599 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,360 Speaker 1: that people know about her, that there's so much more 600 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,840 Speaker 1: about her life that is just not as widely known 601 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,080 Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, what you got in the way a 602 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: listener mail this time around? I have some listener mail 603 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: about Francisco Franco from Abe. Abe says, Hey, Holly and Tracy, 604 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,560 Speaker 1: I really enjoyed hearing your podcast about the rise and 605 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: regime of Francisco Franco in Spain. I learned a lot 606 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,959 Speaker 1: of great information about a regime that very often gets 607 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,800 Speaker 1: omitted from American history classes, probably because the US supported 608 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: the regime due to its anti communist stance in the 609 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: Cold War. I have one correction though. At one point 610 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: you mentioned that Spain was the last fascist regime in 611 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: Europe following the fall of Italy and Germany in World 612 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: War Two. However, this is not actually true. Portugal was 613 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: also ruled by the fascist Estado Novo New State in 614 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: Portuguese Party until nineteen seventy four. To be clear, I'm 615 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,120 Speaker 1: no means an expert on this topic, but from the 616 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,840 Speaker 1: little I know about the regime, it was exceptionally similar 617 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:11,720 Speaker 1: to Franco's both in ideology and historical era. Estado Novo 618 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: came to power in nineteen thirty three while Franco was 619 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 1: engaged in the Spanish Civil War. They believed in their 620 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 1: supremacy over their remaining colonies, most notably Angola, Mozambique, and Macau. 621 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,359 Speaker 1: As much as Spain acted with regards to Morocco. As 622 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,800 Speaker 1: you mentioned, they were also staunchly anti communist, pro Catholic, 623 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: and socially conservative. A big difference from what you mentioned, though, 624 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: was Franco's later economic success in the nineteen sixties that 625 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: makes him a controversial figure in Spain because some look 626 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: fondly upon him for this. As you mentioned in the episode, 627 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: this did not happen in Portugal, as by the end 628 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: of the regime they were the poorest country in Western Europe. 629 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: In addition, they did not have the same support from 630 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: capitalist countries, particularly the United States, because of their views 631 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: on decolonization, which were at odds with the rest of 632 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,080 Speaker 1: the historical empires of Britain, France, et cetera. Anyways, I 633 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:04,719 Speaker 1: love the episode as it touched on a really overlooked 634 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: but very important part of European history. Thanks for everything 635 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,839 Speaker 1: you do, Abe. Thank you very much Abe for writing 636 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: this letter. So I wanted to note that what we 637 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 1: had said was that other nations considered Francisco Franco to 638 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: be the last surviving fascist dictator at the time. Like 639 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,840 Speaker 1: that was how other world powers, especially like other world 640 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,319 Speaker 1: powers that had been allies in the war, like that 641 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 1: was how they were looking back on him um and 642 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: they didn't seem to have that same perception of Portugal, 643 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: largely because while Spain was technically neutral in World War Two, 644 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:50,879 Speaker 1: it's still clearly leaned towards the Access Powers. And while 645 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:56,080 Speaker 1: Portugal was also neutral, during World War Two, Portugal leaned 646 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 1: toward more of the Allied Powers UM and then came 647 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,919 Speaker 1: more formally aligned with Britain later on in the war, 648 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: and so the other World powers didn't have the same 649 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,000 Speaker 1: regard for Portugal that they had for Spain and Francisco 650 00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:16,240 Speaker 1: Franco after the war in terms of other leaders referring 651 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:19,239 Speaker 1: to him as the last surviving fascist dictator. So to 652 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,319 Speaker 1: clarify all that, thank you again, Abe for writing this 653 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,640 Speaker 1: email to us. If you would like to write to 654 00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: us about this or any other podcast or history podcasts 655 00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:30,720 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. And then we're all 656 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: over social media at miss in History and that is 657 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,919 Speaker 1: where you'll find our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. You 658 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,880 Speaker 1: can also subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, Google 659 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:50,239 Speaker 1: podcast wherever else find podcasts. For more on this and 660 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com.