Bayana ya Sojourner Truth Mnamo 1851 Kuhusu Vuguvugu Jipya la Wanawake
Angela Y. Davis: Sojourner Truth's clarity in 1851 on the Women's Movement
[Scroll down for the English]
KISWAHILI
[Mnamo 1851, huko mkusanyiko wa haki za wanawake kwenye mji wa Akron, jimbo la Ohio, nchi ya Marekani]
“Wakati mwanamke huyu Mweusi [Soujorner Truth] aliposimama kuzungumza, jibu lake…lilikuwa na somo kwa akina wanawake weupe [pia waliohudhuria]. Katika kurudia swali lake ‘Je, mimi si mwanamke?’ angalau mara nne, alifichua upendeleo wa kitabaka na ubaguzi wa rangi wa vuguvugu jipya la wanawake.
“[‘Wanawake’] wote hawakuwa weupe na [‘wanawake’] wote hawakufurahia starehe ya kimwili ya tabaka la kati.
“Sojourner Truth mwenyewe alikuwa Mweusi—alikuwa mtumwa wa zamani—lakini yeye alikuwa mwanamke sawa na dada zake wowote weupe kwenye mkusanyiko. Kwamba rangi yake na hali yake ya kiuchumi ilikuwa tofauti na wao haikubatilisha uanamke wake.
“Na kama mwanamke Mweusi, madai yake ya haki sawa yalikuwa halali kama yale ya wanawake weupe wa tabaka la kati.”
- Angela Y. Davis, mwanaharakati wa kisiasa, profesa, na mwandishi
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
[At an 1851 Akron, Ohio, women’s rights convention]
“When this Black woman [Sojourner Truth] did rise to speak, her answer…also contained a profound lesson for the white women [also in attendance]. In repeating her question “Ain’t I a woman?” no less than four times, she exposed the class-bias and racism of the new women’s movement.
“All [“women”] were not white and all [“women”] did not enjoy the material comfort of the middle classes and the bourgeoisie.
“Sojourner Truth herself was Black—she was an ex-slave—but she was no less a woman than any of her white sisters at the convention. That her race and her economic condition were different from theirs did not annul her womanhood. And as a Black woman, her claim to equal rights was no less legitimate than that of white middle-class women.”
- Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, professor, and author
KISWAHILI: Asante na tutaonana tena,
Mmerikani
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Thank you and may we see each other again,
Mmerikani
Chanzo (source): Davis, Angela Y. Women, Race & Class. New York: Vintage Books, 1981, page 39.
“Ain’t I a woman” is a great speech!