AR'N'T I A WOMAN?

Dat man ober dar say dat woman needs to be lifted ober ditches, and to have de best place every whar.
Nobody eber helped me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gives me any best place...
Ar'n't I a Woman?
Look at me!
Look at my arm!
I have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me...
and Ar'n't I a Woman?
I could work as much and eat as much as a man (when I could get it), and bear de lash as well...
and Ar'n't I a Woman?
I have borne thirteen chilern and seen em mos' all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mothers grief, none but Jesus heard...
and Ar'n't I a woman?

Sojourner Truth  1851