Christianity as an Excuse for Oppression Theme Analysis

At the climax of her 1851 speech advocating for Black women’s rights, Sojourner Truth states that “That little man in black there […] says women can’t have as much rights as men.” Here, Truth is pointing out how clergymen of her era (who traditionally wore black) often use religion to justify women’s ongoing oppression and exclusion from the public sphere. But over the course of her speech, Truth points out how cruel and wrong it is to use religion to justify and prolong women’s subjugation. Truth argues that devout Christians in the United States—especially clergymen—pointedly used their religion to excuse the ongoing oppression of women and Black people.

Truth herself was a devout Christian—and as such, she uses her speech to point out the flaws in how the Church speaks about and treats women of her era, especially enslaved Black women. Truth speaks about crying out in grief after the loss of several of her own children—and she says that the only one to hear her lament was Jesus Christ. This illustrates Truth’s faith and reliance upon Christ in a time of need, suggesting that she is truly devout and has close connection with him. This gives Truth firm ground to stand on as she begins criticizing the ill-intended Church just a few lines later. Truth suddenly and humorously pivots to an attack on “that little man in black” who always states that “women can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause Christ wasn’t a woman.” Here, Truth is condemning American clergymen—the ubiquitous “little man in black”—for mistreating and ignoring the women who turn to their faith in their most desperate hours of need. Through these two moments, Truth is implying that the Church has long ignored women’s struggles—even going so far as to corrupt the messages of Jesus Christ, who preached tolerance and equality in order to excuse their ongoing and blatant ignorance of women’s issues.

Truth suggests that many devout Christians in the U.S., clergymen specifically, go so far as to corrupt religious doctrine to justify their mistreatment of women. By claiming that women don’t deserve rights because “Christ wasn’t a woman,” the clergy and other Christians are perverting the message of Christ himself. To Truth, and to countless others whose cries of grief go unheard, Christ is a holy and compassionate figure. By claiming to know the mind of Christ, the Church, its clergymen, and its followers are exploiting a sacred religious figure in order to justify its exclusion of women, as well as its disregard toward the issues that are important to them. Truth continues to criticize the metaphorical “little man in black”, asking where “[his] Christ come[s] from” before pointing out that Christ came from God and a woman—“man had nothing to do with Him.” Here, Truth is pointing out the cruelty of an institution that excludes women when a woman (Mary) was responsible for the birth of the figure around whose teachings that institution is based. She’s pointing out the Church’s unbelievable hypocrisy, illustrating how the Church uses religious messaging to excuse its mistreatment of women everywhere.

Truth underscores the church’s cruelty toward women with one final blow: by invoking Eve, an oft-maligned biblical figure whose behavior (disobeying God by eating forbidden fruit) men still use to claim that women are inherently sinful, capricious, and untrustworthy. But Truth turns the biblical story of Adam and Eve on its head, rendering Eve a powerful figure who was “strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone.” By reclaiming Eve’s power, Truth is showing that the Church has the capacity to twist women’s actions in order to manipulate its followers into believing the worst about women, thus justifying its own cruelty toward women.

Sojourner Truth was a religious woman whose own spiritual awakening, when she was still called Isabella Baumfree, led her to adopt the name Sojourner Truth. She named herself a journeywoman on a mission to spread her truth—and God’s—far and wide. She used “Ain’t I a Woman?” not only as a platform for abolitionist messaging or for the advancement of the tenets of women’s rights. She also used the speech call out the Church for its perversion of doctrine in order to justify its ignorance toward and oppression of women of all races.