Frances D. Gage

Frances D. Gage, an opponent of slavery and a proponent of women’s suffrage, describes the occasion when Sojourner Truth, perhaps the most famous African American woman to speak out for women’s suffrage, addressed a women’s rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. Unlike many of her fellow speakers, who seemed unable to respond to the numerous male hecklers in the audience, Sojourner Truth forcefully rebutted a minister’s claim that women were too weak and fragile to vote. Sojourner Truth was a fifty-four-year-old, imposing former slave who, during her speech, rolled up her sleeves to show the audience her muscles while asking the famous question, "Ain’t I a woman?"

The leaders of the movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white...