Follow up to First Wave

As I read the three readings for tonight, I was surprised to find out how much I didn't know about the oppression of women in the first and second wave. In Dubois's reading, I was shocked to learn about how Stanton and Mott were discriminated against at the World Anti-Slavery Convention. However this discrimination resulted in a special bond between the two women, and helped them organize the first woman's rights convention. I have never really thought in depth about the creation of the 14th amendment, but the fact that women, born in the United States, were denied the basic rights of a citizen, is absolutely appalling.

In Elizabeth Stanton's, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions," I thought the denials that women have undergone were really interesting, especially the line, "He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice." Before this reading, I had never thought about the oppression of women's suffrage in this sense. The fact that women had to abide by the laws without any say in political matters whatsoever, is very upsetting to me.

In Sojourner Truth's speeches, I thought it was really intriguing how in the 1867 speech, she addressed both men, and white women. I was thrown off when she admitted that white women are smarter than black women, because i felt as if she was succumbing to a group of oppressors of black women.

I thought all three articles fit together well. They all highlighted the same issue of women's suffrage, and all three writers had strong arguments' on why the oppression of women's suffrage and rights was completely unfair.