Perspectives in Slavery - Essay Example

The audiences for the two women’s messages are very different. Sojourner Truth delivered her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio (Gage). The delivery was live, to an audience that consisted of men and women. The speech inspired women while emphasizing the idea that women are capable to do many of the tasks that men do. Truth suggests that women are perhaps even more capable when one considers woman’s ability to bear children when she states, “Whar did your Christ come from?

From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him!” (qtd. in Gage). Conversely, Harriet Ann Jacobs, writing as Linda Brent, wrote “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”, to persuade a specific audience. In her preface, Jacobs writes that she “earnestly desire[s] to arouse the women of the North to a realizing sense of the condition of two millions of women at the South, still in bondage, suffering what I suffered, and most of them far worse” (Jacobs 6). Throughout her book, Jacobs highlights the particular plight of women in slavery, the conditions they encounter, and the lot of any children they may bear.

Jacobs relates in poignant detail her experiences in what some might consider a privileged station, as a slave working in a house. Jacobs received some rare instruction from a kind mistress early in life who taught her to “read and spell” (Jacobs 16).. Jacobs relates how the master, Dr. Flint, pursued her when she turned fifteen. She explains that protection does not exist for the slave girl, that “there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men” (45).

Additionally, Jacobs’ children had no rights even though they were fathered by a free white man, due to the slaveholders edict that “the child shall follow the condition of the mother” (118). Because she was a slave, they were slaves. As her daughter grew, Jacobs was increasingly alarmed about the attention the girl might receive as a slave. Fear for her children prompted her pursuit of freedom at great personal sacrifice; she spent almost seven years hiding in cramped quarters, watching her children and waiting for an opportunity to escape (173-224).

Even after reaching the North, Jacobs lived in fear of discovery and delivery back to the Flints until a friend purchased her freedom (302). Jacobs’ story highlights the challenges of being a woman as a slave while struggling to maintain her humanity. Her story speaks to strength of character and determination. Sojourner Truth, on the other hand, expands the definition of strength to emphasize the power of women in relation to tasks and activities that some might imply are unique to men. One does not know much of Truth’s story from her speech, but one can glean that Truth is not ashamed of her past.

Rather she views it as an opportunity to demonstrate her ability to tackle any situation and make the most of it. In particular, Truth solidly believes that she is as good as if not better than any man is. Truth references her physical strength, saying, “And ar’n’t I a