Ohio Women’s Rights Convention of 1851 Term Analysis

The “Woman’s Rights Convention” held in Akron, Ohio in 1851 took place just a few years after the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, which many consider to be the landmark convention on women’s rights in the U.S. Over the course of the two-day convention, Ohio men and women gave speeches, sang songs, and read poems in support of women’s rights to education, suffrage, and equality more genrally. Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” is arguably the most famous and enduring address from the convention. The attendees ultimately reached a number of conclusions about the sorry state of women’s rights in the United States at the time, asserting that the distinction between the sexes was “unjust,” and that it was furthered by “religious instructors” around the nation. The leaders of the convention ultimately concluded that women needed to form “Labor Partnerships” in order to demand fair compensation for their work, demand a constitutional amendment conferring equal rights to men and women, and form District Societies throughout the state in order to coordinate collective actions in the fight for women’s rights.