Video: Sojourner Truth: context and an introduction to rhetoric for injustice

﻿This may just look like a collection of rocks or stones, but it's a slave auction block in Greenhill Plantation, Campbell County, Virginia, America. It's one of countless slave auction blocks littered throughout America and beyond, and they were used frequently during a time where slavery was prevalent throughout the world. People would gather in crowds like a market place and individuals would be asked to stand onto the block and they would listen as members of the crowd bid for them as though they were a belonging or a possession, as though they were food or cattle. Sojourner Truth was one of those individuals. She was born into slavery and experienced being sold and bought from slave owner to slave owner, throughout her entire childhood. When she reached adulthood, she wanted to speak out against the injustices suffered, not only by those enslaved at the time, but she also wanted to raise awareness of the lack of rights that women had. Today, we're going to look at her story and how she used rhetoric to create iconic speeches that changed the world. In today's lesson, we're going to have a look at this idea of rhetoric being used to highlight injustice. We're going to recap on what rhetoric is and also understand what the word "injustice" means in more detail so that we can keep that in the back of our minds as we study Sojourner Truth. We're going to find out who Sojourner Truth was, a little bit about her life, and why she felt it so important to speak out against injustice. And then we're going to have a look at her speech and think about how she structures her speech in such a way to highlight injustice to her audience and make them feel not only an emotional reaction, but feel as though they might act upon that reaction to change the way people are being treated. As a recap, rhetoric is the art of persuasive speaking or writing. It's from the word "rhetor," which is a speaker or a master orator, somebody that's very familiar and confident speaking to a crowd of people. Now the triad that we use to talk about rhetoric is made up of these three key aspects. Ethos, how trustworthy and credible your audience believe you to be, how much you've given them the impression that you genuinely care about the issue that you're talking about. Logos, which is to what extent your argument is logical and well-evidenced, the proof of your argument to back you up. And pathos, to what extent you have evoked an emotional response from your audience. How have you left them feeling and how do you manage to do that? Many great speakers throughout history have used rhetorical language to highlight the mistreatment of people in society and the injustices suffered as a result. Many, many great speakers have highlighted and managed to change the way that we do things in society, just from using rhetorical language. That's why I often refer to it as the secret weapon of the English language. It's a really powerful tool. The word "injustice" means if something is unfair, either morally or legally. It doesn't have to be both. It's from the Latin word, "injustitia," which means not just or right. Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist. Now, an abolitionist is somebody that wants to put a stop to something. We normally use the word "abolitionist" to talk about anti-slavery campaigners, people that spoke out against slavery. She was also a women's rights activist. She believed that women should have the same rights and entitlements as men. She was born as enslaved, sold from slave owner to slave owner throughout out her entire childhood. At nine, she was sold with a flock of sheep for a hundred dollars, Pause here, and see how you get on with this multiple choice question. Injustice means: How did you do? If something is unfair, either morally or legally. Remember it doesn't have to be both. Here's another one for you. Don't forget to press play when you're done. An abolitionist is: How did you do? Don't worry too much if you didn't get that right. You just learned what abolitionist is. An abolitionist is a person who wants to remove a practise or approach in society. Let's find out a little bit more about Sojourner Truth. Her horrific experiences As a result of being enslaved had a lasting impact on her. She was beaten, once with metal rods by one of her slave owners. Despite the shocking treatment, she fell in love with a man named Robert, who was enslaved locally by a different man. Robert and Sojourner had four children together. In 1828, she became the first African American woman to win a court case against her previous owner for selling one of her children to another slave owner. She won and was reunited with her son. After this experience of injustice, she began to campaign, campaign means to go out and speak and meet people to talk about injustice. She began to campaign as an activist for the freedom of African American people enslaved in America, and for equal rights for men and women. Her iconic speech, "Ain't I a Woman," spoke about the injustice that African American women suffered at the time. Pause the video here and have a go at these questions. Who was Sojourner Truth? What was she the first African American woman to do? And what two issues did Truth campaign for? Best of luck. How did you get on? Don't worry too much if your answers aren't worded exactly like mine, you've probably got plenty more from your notes, as well. So who was Sojourner Truth? An African American anti-slavery campaigner. You may also have on your answer, an abolitionist there. What was she the first African American woman to do? Win a court case. You may have had what the court case was about, to regain access to her son. And what two issues did Truth campaign for? Well, we had anti-slavery and women's rights. Sojourner Truth's 'Aint I A Woman' speech was delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio, in America in 1851. As you listen to me read the speech, make notes about the different arguments or examples she uses to highlight the injustice she feels that women and enslaved people experienced at the time. "May I say a few words? I want to say a few words about this matter. I have women's rights. 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've borne 13 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? Then that talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? 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? Then that little man at the back 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. 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!" If you need to pause the video here, just to note down your ideas, and then we'll take a look at the speech in more detail. So let's have a think about how Truth creates this sense of ethos with her audience, so that then she comes across as trustworthy and credible. She opens her speech with a question which doesn't need a response. It's a rhetorical question. She says, "May I say a few words?" But she doesn't expect an answer. Why does she think it's perhaps a good idea to begin by asking politely to speak? She compares her strength to that of a man in many ways. She says, "I am as strong as any man that is now." She compares her physical strength to the other man. She says she can eat as much as a man. Why would she feel that this was important to return to? She also says, "He says women can't have as much rights 'cause Christ was a man." So she refers to his ideas and his opinion about why women are less important than men. And then she uses that argument against him, if you remember, because she points out that Christ wouldn't be around, if it wasn't for women in the first place. So, pause the video here and have a think about the main message, the purpose of Sojourner Truth's speech. How did you get on? Don't worry too much if you didn't get the right answer this time. The main message of Sojourner Truth's speech is women would accomplish more than men, if they didn't experience injustice. The injustice is what's standing in the way of women being equal. Let's have a think about how she structures the speech itself. So we've already said she opens with this rhetorical question and this helps her build ethos because she comes across as polite. She's not aggressive or intimidating. She starts off very, very politely. As we get through later on in the speech, she uses anecdotes and uses that 'in my mother's grief' to explain the enslavement of her children, her children becoming enslaved. Now, if we think about the audience, this is a women's convention, remember? So that would really encourage pathos from the audience because they would be able to perhaps imagine how it would feel losing your children in such a way and not being with your children. She also uses the argument of the man later on at a later point and she uses lots of strong statements around religion and essentially uses his argument to then counter-argument. So she says, this man says this. He says women can't have as much rights because Christ wasn't a woman. And then she completely breaks down his argument by pointing out that Christ wouldn't exist in the first place if it wasn't for women. Now there's a really nice example of logos. So I'd like you to think about how Truth structures her speech to highlight injustice. Think about how she uses those comparisons earlier on between men and women. Think about that use of her own anecdotes in using her own experience of losing her children. Then at that last point, think about how she uses the example of Christ being brought into the world. I've given you some sentence starters. What I'd like you to do is just try and compile a paragraph to answer that question around how she structures her speech to highlight injustice. So in your paragraph, you should have a think about the start of her speech, the middle of her speech, and then by the end of the speech. Remember she's talking to an all-female audience. So that might be relevant for you or important for you to think about and include in your writing. Pause the video here, and when you're done, press play. This might be, or might look like the example of the answer you've written. Don't worry too much if you used different words or different ways of putting it together, there was plenty to talk about in that speech. You might've also gone back and had another look at the speech after me reading it to you initially. So as an acceptable answer, Truth uses rhetoric to highlight injustice by saying women are as good as men. So this person has quite rightly pointed out the key purpose, the main message of the speech. Now the excellent answer goes one step further by explaining how that's done. So Truth uses rhetoric to highlight injustice because she wants to emphasise the mistreatment of women enslaved in America at the time. She begins by using comparisons of men and women to build ethos with what would have been a mostly female audience. So that's really nice because the writer has remembered that this was a women's convention and how actually the ethos and the pathos is mostly there, because of the fact that she knows what will appeal to a female audience. If you're talking about women's rights to women, then they're probably going to be in agreement with you, but you still need to build that sense of trust. So just to finish this off, why did Truth use rhetoric to highlight injustice? What I'd like you to do is pause here and just jot down some ideas as to what your thoughts are in response to that question. Press play when you're done. Okay, so let's have a think about why rhetoric might be used in this way. Now rhetoric, we might have seen previously, or you might have seen previously, can be used for persuasive writing or adverts, but here Truth is using rhetoric to back up her claims that women should be treated as equals. She uses various different examples in order to do that, but it's the rhetorical language that makes her arguments so powerful. The way that she includes three aspects of our triad to create this speech, the overall is very, very powerful, really highlights the injustice that she has experienced, particularly that counter argument that she brings in near the end about the fact that Christ wouldn't exist if it wasn't for women, and that that's how powerful women really are. Rhetoric enables Truth to put together all of these ideas into a very sophisticated argument. And that's the end of the lesson for today. Isn't that a fantastic speech? You see why I didn't want to ruin it for you at the beginning of the lesson now? I'd like you to do two things for me. First of all, write down three things that you learned from the lesson today. That might be around rhetoric and how Sojourner Truth used rhetoric, or it might be about Sojourner Truth herself. The second thing is I'd like you to complete the quiz to see how much you've learned. Next lesson, we're going to be having a look at Sojourner Truth's speech in a little bit more detail, and really focusing on that use of rhetoric for injustice. See you next time.

Exit Quiz: Sojourner Truth: context and an introduction to rhetoric for injustice

Completed: Sojourner Truth: context and an introduction to rhetoric for injustice

In this lesson, we will consider how rhetoric can be used to highlight injustice in society. We will study the abolitionist Sojourner Truth's iconic speech where she spoke out against the treatment of African Americans enslaved across America in the nineteenth century. We will explore how Truth used a particular structure to position her argument for change.

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Y8 English

Key Stage 3

Year 8

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Sojourner Truth: context and an introduction to rhetoric for injustice

Injustice: Pankhurst & Sojourner Truth

Rhetoric

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Sojourner Truth's use of rhetoric and structure

Pankhurst: context and an introduction to rhetoric for gender specific injustice

Rhetoric and injustice: Pankhurst's use of rhetoric and structure

English

Sojourner Truth: context and an introduction to rhetoric for injustice

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