Sojourner Truth

I’m a quasi-feminist. Don’t worry, even I don’t even know exactly what that means. I know this: God designed women to be different from men but equal in worth. I know some feminists who are mean and ugly. I also know some feminists who are beautiful and kind. We could spend our lifetimes trying to figure out exactly what feminism means to God, and then it won’t matter anymore!

But this week I read a little about Sojourner Truth, a pioneer in women’s rights. Her legend may be bigger than her reality, but she certainly ranks as someone I wish I had known in the flesh. Here’s a little tidbit of what she had to say to a minister who had claimed that a woman was excluded from some rights because she was not the same gender as Jesus. Here is her response as recorded by Frances D. Gage:

“Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wan’t a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?…From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him.”

Or how about this:

“If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder … ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!”

What fun she must have been! As Rare Rocks we need to see the truth in feminism as well as the fallacies, but at the very least, we need to stay in the coversation.