First Wave

Ellen DuBois' article "Feminism Old Wave and New Wave" provides readers with the historical content in which the feminism movements come about. In the first feminism movement (1835-1920), women were outraged by the fact that they were not politically equal to men and they did not possess the right to execute political functions such as voting, making decisions, and being political figures. The first event which sparked such realization was during 1837 when Sarah and Angelina Grimke become active in speaking out against slavery; while some men supported them, many male abolitionists strongly believed that women did not have the same equal participation rights as men in the abolitionist movement. The next event occurred in London when Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton was denied the right to be delegates at the convention. Both events signified women's political inequality and male's apathy towards that. Lastly, the 14th and 15th Amendment, which excluded women in the right of citizenship and voting, women realized that their political equality were not in the best interest of men; if they wanted change, they had to act themselves because men could not fully understand "how much woman feels her oppression and how much she wants her freedom."

Elizabeth Cady Staton and Sojurner Truth agree with DuBois' argument that men did not understand or have any interest in bringing women political equality and that women needed to take charge gaining their equality. They both wrote and delivered, in my point of view, powerful speeches that were loaded with rhetorical devices.

First, we should recognize the structure of Staton's speech "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution." She based her speech off the structure of the Declaration of Independence which is very interesting and I guess was absolutely intentional. Like the Declaration of Independence stated the colonies discontentment with British tyranny and the action that should be taken, Staton also addresses women's discontentment with the ways men are treating them. She demands for women's equal access to education, property, jobs, and politics--among other things. What I found interesting is the way Staton sets up her argument using the ideas of inalienable rights and the consent of the governed. I wonder when she delivered the speech, did she have the intention of suggesting women to overthrow the government because they are not abiding to the foundation on which this country was built and were women inspire/motivated to do so?

As for Sojourner Truth's speech "Two Speeches," she delivered two speeches with the same message but in two different strategies targeting different groups of women. Her first speech in 1851 at Ohio Woman's Rights Convention seem to address the general public conveying the message that women have every ability that men has and if they were given the same chance and opportunities as men, women will be able to show their ability and correct all the false assumptions and and misconceptions society have constructed about women. However, her second speech in 1867 at the American Equal Rights Association she seem to convey the same message but to a specific group--this time she plays on her identity as a former slave and her age (wisdom/experience) to address white women. It is interesting to see that not only did women have to fight against men's disapproval of women's roles in society, but women of color also have to fight the battle against women too.

It is clear that Truth's speech incorporated both women of color and white women, I wonder if Stanton's speech did the same?