Final answer:
Sojourner Truth's speech 'Ain't I a Woman?' displayed her individualism by challenging gender and racial expectations and arguing for the inclusion of African American women in the fight for women's rights. Her actions and rhetoric contrasted sharply with societal norms, emphasizing her uniqueness and progressive outlook.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sojourner Truth's iconic speech, "Ain't I a Woman?", delivered at the 1851 women's rights convention, was a bold assertion of her individuality versus the society of her time. In challenging societal norms, she spoke against the expected roles for both her gender and her race. By advocating for African American women's experiences to be acknowledged in the fight for women's rights, she demonstrated that she was not only a part of her society but also a critical commentator on its injustices.
Truth famously dismantled arguments against women's suffrage and exposed the hypocrisy of men who claimed to oppose it for women's own good. Simultaneously, her speech questioned the prioritization within the abolition and women's rights movements, especially the step-by-step approach that prioritized white women's suffrage over black women's.
Drawing on her personal experiences and her role as an advocate, Truth's speech highlighted the intersectionality of race and gender long before the term was coined.
Aside from her direct contributions to these movements, Truth's actions, such as winning a lawsuit against a White person for her son's freedom, reflected her strength against societal norms. Her partnership with prominent abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, and her insistence on full suffrage for all women, regardless of race, positioned her as a progressive figure for her times.