Historical Question: What was the role of women during abolitionism? The early eighteen hundreds were marked by reform. For a country that claimed to be the land of the free, America had many groups that were oppressed. If you were not a white male above the age of 21, you had virtually no rights. Because of this, many people started to fight for reform. Women played an important role in this reform by speaking out against the oppression both groups faced, and fighting for change through conventions, petitions, and print media. Many women realized that it was unfair for the men to have all the power. Women were not represented in government, and essentially belonged to their husband. …show more content…
During her speech at a women’s convention in 1851, she discusses the double standard that plagues both the abolitionists and the women’s rights. People talk about how women should be treated, but she has never experienced that treatment regardless of her gender. She had her children taken from her and sold into slavery, but no one cared that she was a mother just like any other woman. She has met an African American man who believes women should have no rights, but that all men should. Truth was part of the most oppressed and forgotten group of all, African American women. A faction who had to work twice as hard to have a voice and …show more content…
In document three Angelina Grimke addresses this strategy. She encourages women in the South to help abolish slavery. They might not have many legal rights, but they have the ability to bring the topic home. The same way Grimke can discuss and bring these ideas to them, the women can go home to their friends and family and start discussions on these topics there. It may not seem like much, but starting the conversation can spread the ideas to the people who have a say in the government. By speaking up and encouraging others to do these same, these women would help reform America and eliminate oppression. Women played key role in both the women’s rights and abolitionist movements. Both groups were fighting to gain rights in a country that gave them none, and women such as Sojourner Truth and Angelina Grimke helped fight for both groups, which eventually leads to them gaining