1. Students should have previously read "Cora Unashamed." Begin the lesson by asking students to ponder the following question: If you had an opportunity to speak your mind on an issue,
what would it be? What would you say? Afterwards, have them do a Quick Write (10 minutes).
2. Divide the students into small groups of about three or four persons. Ask students to share their
responses to the questions above with fellow group members. After the discussion, you can take a quick poll of the kinds of issues that students thought were worth "speaking out" about. This will allow
you to assess their comprehension of the assignment. Then collect their papers.
II. Close Text Reading and Comparison
1. Before asking students to read "Ain't I a Woman?" inform them about Sojourner Truth's background and the circumstances in which the speech was made. Since this is a speech, it is more effective to have it read
aloud, either by the teacher or a volunteer student. Then have students review "Cora Unashamed" before rereading Cora's speech at Jessie's funeral. For your convenience, the passage from the story as well as
Truth's speech are contained in this lesson plan. Distribute copies of the texts so that students can follow along. Ask them to highlight similarities between the two works.
2. Have students regroup
to chart what they think each speaker is saying. They may do this simply by noting their understandings under two columns labeled, "Cora Jenkins" and "Sojourner Truth." Students may need dictionaries to
look up difficult vocabulary.
3. After this discussion, have the groups share their findings with the class. Before proceeding, make sure that everyone has a common understanding of the major themes
of injustice in each work.
III. Actual Text
...Cora got up from her seat by the dining-room door. She said, "Honey, I want to say something." She spoke as if she were
addressing Jessie. She approached the coffin and held out her brown hands over the white girl's body. Her face moved in agitation. People sat stone-still and there was a long pause. Suddenly
she screamed. "They killed you away from here in the springtime of your life, and now you'se gone, gone, gone!"
Folks were paralyzed in their seats.
Cora went on: "They preaches you a pretty sermon
and they don't say nothin'. They sings you a song, and they don't say nothin'. But Cora's here, honey, and she's gone tell 'em what they done to you. She's gonna tell 'em why they took you to
Kansas City."
A loud scream rent the air. Mrs. Art fell back in her chair, stiff as a board. Cousin Nora and sister Mary sat like stones. The men of the family rushed forward to grab Cora. They
stumbled over wreaths and garlands. Before they could reach her, Cora pointed her long fingers at the women in black and said, "They killed you, honey. They killed you and your child. I told 'em
you loved it, but they didn't care. They killed it before it was…"
Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?"
"Well Children, where there is so much racket, there must be something out
of kilter, I think between the Negroes of the South and the women of the North--all talking about rights--the white men will be in a fix pretty soon, but what's all this talking about?
That man over there says
that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody helps me any best place. An ain't I a woman?
Look at me! Look at my arm.
I have plowed, I have planted and I have gathered into barns. An no man could head me. An ain't I a woman?
I could work as much, and eat as much as a man--when I could get it--and bear the lash as
well! An ain't I a woman? I have borne children and seen most of them sold into slavery and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me. An ain't I a woman?
He talks about this thing in the head. What's that they call it?"
A woman in the audience whispered, "intellect."
Sojourner continued, "That's it honey. What's intellect got to do with women's rights
or black folks' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yours hold a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?
That little man in black there! He says women can't
have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman.' Where did your Christ come from?
Where did your Christ come from? From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!
If the
first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to run it back and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it
the men better let them."
IV. Projects
Use the following project ideas to allow students to apply the themes learned from the two works:
1. Return the Quick Write writing assignments to students. Have them write a speech on one of the issues
that the class deemed worthy of "speaking out" about. Students could then practice these speeches and present them in front of the class. This lesson leads to many role playing opportunities. You
could have the students in the audience pretend that they are delegates at a convention; ask them to vote for the issues that they want to take action on. This project gives students an opportunity to practice
their public speaking skills. Additionally, this activity demonstrates to students how literature may trigger self examination. Note that a debate unit may be spun off from this project.
2. In small
groups, have students research and identify examples from literature, film and history of people speaking out against injustices. Their findings may be presented in several ways: as a scrapbook, class
presentation, video, hyperstudio presentation with film clips, tape of the students reading these speeches, poster, etc.
3. Ask students to write a comparison/contrast essay based on the charts that they
constructed during the close reading of the two texts. In this application, the chart becomes a pre-writing activity and demonstrates to students another way to organize their thoughts before setting pen to
paper. A Venn diagram could also be used to illustrate this aspect of the writing process.
