In class, we have been studying arguments and methods by reading four different speeches. We read “Ain’t I a Woman?” by Sojourner Truth; “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.; “Remarks to the Convocation of the Church of God in Christ” by William J. Clinton; and “Remarks to NAACP” by Barack Obama. All of these speeches were dealing with the issue of racial injustice and how to fix this problem. Out of all these speeches, Sojourner Truth has the speech with the strongest argument because of her claims, reasoning and evidence, and use of methods.
Sojourner Truth’s argument is based on what men were saying at a women’s rights conference she was attending. When she gave this speech, she stood up and gave it uninvited. First, she claims that one of the men said that “women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches…” on lines 4-5. She gives a counterclaim saying “Nobody ever helps me into carriages...And ain’t I a woman?” on lines 5-6. Next, she states that intellect has nothing to do with women’s rights, “What’s that …show more content…
In her first claim, which is actually a counterclaim, she is using the fact that she is a women to disprove their argument. By using a fact that everyone can prove right then and there, she strengthens her argument by people not wondering at the validity of her claims. In her second claim, she asks “What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negro’s rights?” line 13. Using logic, people in the audience should determine that it really doesn’t have anything to do with those people’s rights. Truth backs up her third claim with reasoning from Christianity. In the Bible, it says that Christ came from Mary, a woman; and God. Using religion worked very well in her argument because the claim she is countering used evidence from religion too. In her final claim, she also uses evidence from Christianity. All of her reasoning is used to great effect to further Truth’s