'Ain’t I a Woman'?: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Sojourner Truth’s Resistance to Double Oppression

Abstract

This study delves into Sojourner Truth's powerful speech, ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’, delivered at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention, examining it through the lens of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) to uncover how Truth resisted the double oppression faced by Black American women. This research uniquely synthesizes van Dijk's framework for ideological discourse analysis with Lazar's (2007) feminist approach, investigating specific discourse choices and the contextual implications of discursive structures within Truth’s feminine discourse. By analyzing Truth's strategic use of language, the study reveals how her speech challenges and subverts dominant ideologies that perpetuate both gender and racial discrimination. Significantly, the analysis highlights how Truth's discourse constructs agency and empowers marginalized voices by giving expression to the lived experiences of Black women in mid-19th-century America, who faced marginalization by white Americans and, to some extent, by their own Black men. This study’s findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the intersectional nature of oppression, demonstrating the power of strategic language use in feminist activism and challenging patriarchal power structures through a compelling articulation of lived realities.