I'm awful hard on dress, you know.
Women, you forget
that you are the mothers of creation;
you forget that your sons
were cut off like grass by the war,
and that the land was covered by their blood;
you rig yourselves up in panniers
and Grecian bend-backs
and flummeries;
yes and mothers
and gray-haired grandmothers
wear highheeled shoes
and humps on their heads,
and put them on their babies,
and stuff them out
so that they keel over when the wind blows.
O mothers,
I am ashamed of ye!
What will such lives
as you live do for humanity?
When I saw them women on the stage
at the Woman's Suffrage Convention,
the other day,
I thought,
What kind of reformers be you,
with goose-wings on your heads,
as if you were going to fly,
and dressed in such ridiculous fashion,
talking about reform and women's rights?
'Pears to me,
you had better reform yourselves first.
But Sojourner is an old body,
and will soon get out of this world
into another,
and wants to say
when she gets there,
Lord, I have done my duty,
and I have told the whole truth
and kept nothing back.
Notes
Printed in 'The Book of Life', page 243, and is an excellent example of Truth's mockery of pretension, where ever she found it.
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Comments
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I love it!!!
From guest Ashley Giacomucci (contact)
This poem is telling the truth. Every girl in the world worries about their appearances and the clothes they wear. I even do, so this is a good example to all the little girls aroung the world. -
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poem accuracy
From guest leslie johnson (contact)
i dont mean to be rude but you need a spell, grammar and puntuation check!!!! you alse twised up ms.sojourner's words. -
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To Guest Leslie Johnson and others
When reading poetry (or any writing) one should be aware of who, when and where. These three things make such a difference especially in a language such as "English" which has developed almost independently as a mother tongue on at least three continents.
This was written a century and a half since by a woman who began life speaking Dutch, taught herself American English as a youngster and when she wrote was capable of switching between the educated American version of English and the slave version of English consciously and unconsciously.
Yes there are differences between what she wrote and what we would write today "gray / grey" "highheeled / high-heeled" "ye / you" "them / those" "'Pears / appears" but then there are differences between the Queen's English and American English and we do not complain about that. -
for leslie johnson
I can see nothing incorrect here, would you like to point out what you suggest should be corrected?
Try this link too:
http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/sojournertruth/a/bio_truth_s_2.htm
Thanks
Von ~ Oldpoetry Team
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i liked it just like i liked aint i a women
From guest MZ.NUNU (contact)
THIS POEM IS WONDERFUL I LIKE THE FACT THAT SHE DIDNT HOLD NOTHING BACK SHE LET IT OUT AND KEEP IT REAL!!!!!! I LUV THIS POET -
i love it
From guest alexis mccain (contact)
this poem is very strong and powerful. ilove it more than her speech aint i a woman -
English n Poetry
From guest Amber (contact)
I gotta say that i have been lookin 4 a poem to write n analysis on n when i found dis poem i got happy cause this one is special...it was written by a black woman n she has such good points! she sure knew how 2 get her point across! THANK YA KINDLY! -
From guest natalie (contact)
this poem is a wonderful poem i am in the 8th grade and i really like how she keep it real -
why i like this poem
From guest ndea (contact)
this a nice poem about womens rights and negros rights and i like that -
DEVAION
From guest ms.sexy (contact)
I THINK THAT THIS POEM IS A GREAT POEM BECAUSE SHE DID A VERY GOODJOB!! -
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