#305 Intersections: Sojourner Truth and Harriet Jacobs

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883)

Preparation:

• Read Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” in the Course Reader, 33.
• Read Harriet Jacobs, selections from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
• As you read, consider:
  • Why do you think Sojourner Truth was invited to speak to feminists in Akron, Ohio, in 1851? Why do you think that it is considered one of the most important speeches in the early women’s rights movement? Are the answers to these two questions the same or different?
  • Harriet Jacobs describes her master as "my old tyrant." Where have we heard the term "tyrant" before? How is this type of tyranny similar or different to what we have discussed before?

Materials needed for class:

• Please bring the Course Reader and a copy of Harriet Jacobs to class.

Follow up & setup:

• Misogyny and feminism (if we didn’t have chance to finish last class)
• Intersectionality:
  • Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989: “The view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity. Cultural patterns of oppression are not only interrelated, but are bound together and influenced by the intersectional systems of society. Examples of this include race, gender, class, ability, and ethnicity.”
• How might we put "intersectionality" into our own words?
• Now, let’s look back at the mid-nineteenth century when the women’s movement grew out of moral advocacy for temperance and abolition and think about how these readings reflect on the question of intersectionality.

Discussion:

• Start by writing down one question on a piece of paper. The question should be designed to encourage your peers to engage critically with one or both of the readings from last night. Advice for preparing good questions:
  • Clarification. If you are confused, somebody else probably is too. Questions beginning with “What is meant by…” “Explain how…”
  • Analysis. Questions beginning with “Why…” “How would you explain…” “What is the importance of…” “What is the meaning of”
  • Compare and contrast. “Compare…” “Contrast…” “What is the difference between…” “What is the similarity between…”
  • Cause and effect. “What are the causes/results of…” “What connection is there between…”
• Next, in pairs, discuss the “consider” questions from last night. After a few minutes we’ll bring that conversation around the table.
• Finally, we’ll open up the discussion. Like our normal class sessions, we’ll aim to be aware of others before we speak up without resorting to raising hands. However, unlike our normal class sessions, you can raise your card to pause the conversation to ask a question from your card that might be:
  • (a) relevant to the current flow of conversation, or
  • (b) redirect the conversation in a more productive direction.

Reflection:

• In the last five minutes of class, I’d like you to reflect in your journal in zero-draft form on what you have learned from your peers in today’s discussion.

Homework: #306.