å Monday, February 6th, 2017

By mentioning both Charlotte Woodward and Sojourner Truth and their contributions to the Women’s Rights movement, Davis is emphasizing how important it was for middle class white women to be able to understand the situations that other women were also in. After hearing first hand accounts of the women working in the mills and Sojourner Truth’s experiences as a slave, it forced the middle class white women to realize that working women and women slaves are still women that should have the same rights that they were advocating for. Davis is also saying that these different experiences actually benefited the women’s rights movement and without them the outcome might’ve been different. Many of the first conventions, such as the one at Seneca Falls was only initially meant to address the issues middle class white women had, such as after being married they are solely dependent on their husband and are expected to be housewives. It was only after Charlotte Woodward and others working women spoke out that many others addressed their issues as real issues. Even then, there were no black women at the Seneca Falls convention which means their rights were not included. I feel like Davis is also trying to point out the irony of what happened since the middle class women wanted equal rights as men but they, themselves, left out women who were different than them.

It was at the National Convention on Women’s Rights, where Sojourner Truth talked about her life when she was a slave, and through her speeches, proved to other women and men that were there, that black women are also women and should be included in all the things the Women’s Rights movement was fighting for. These conventions helped to get the stories of the working women, and the black women out there so their issues would also be included in this fight for women’s rights. Eventually, many women such as Angelina Grimke advocated for all women’s rights. Hearing the stories of the black women, working women, and others at the conventions brought all women together to fight for their rights instead of against each other. Without people like Charlotte Woodward and Sojourner Truth telling the middle class white women what their lives were like, they might have been fighting for their each individual rights, such as,  just solely Black Liberation instead of also Women’s Rights.

I believe Davis is trying to tell us that the Seneca Falls Convention was made with the target of recognizing the electoral power for women, but instead one its primary focus was the institution of marriage which resulted in many adverse effects on woman. Also the Seneca Falls Convention focused the attention meanly in middle class white woman, letting out the situation of white working class women. They had to work long shift in very bad conditions, exposed to many diseases and other risks, as an example of this were women who worked in the textile mills in the Northeast. What was thought would be a fair movement for all female gender and the culmination of years of injustice, insecurity and even domestic abuses, became a convention that took into account a single group of women; Middle-class white women. Black women were entirely ignored in all the convention documents. No document made any reference about their participation in the abolitionist movement. Another contradictory fact that could be even ironic is the fact that in a convention in favor of women’s rights, where most of the assistants were women, women were not allowed to speak. Also, do not forget Prudence Crandall, who defied her white townspeople by accepting a Black girl in her school to create an equality in education among white and Black women, but during Seneca Falls Convention white women forgot the common desire for education that they once shared with Black women. White women wanted to be free in many legal aspects, but they were not ready to put away the prejudices and renounce racism. This makes clear that the major weakness in the Seneca Falls Convention was racism. Middle class white women did not see this convention as a fight for the gender since they only sought their own benefits. I think Davis also makes a difference when he mentions to Sojourner Truth, a black abolitionist who fought for Black women were considered into the abolitionist movement, something that Seneca Falls Convention did not do.

I believe that Davis is trying to tell us that although many women attended the Seneca Convention to help raise awareness in the fight for women they focused on topics that led them to omit the awareness of both Mill girl and African American women struggles. During the course of the convention, there was much talk about the struggles of women in the Document Farmer class (Davis). However, it was never mentioned how many young Mill Girls were forced to work under terrible conditions for long hours (Davis). The Seneca Convention protesters also failed to mention the struggles many African American women faced as slaves who were not given the basic human rights they deserved (Davis). They failed to acknowledge all of the protesting and movements made by both Mill Girls and African American women done with the intent to gain their rights, be treated fairly in their workplace, and be seen as equal to men. As I read Davis’s piece, I felt that her tone of writing emitted annoyance as if she was unhappy that the protesters at the Seneca Convention wasted this important moment by forgetting about the women outside of their class.

Although the Seneca Convention shed light on the struggles of only one class of women and the consistent forgetfulness of many white women to include their fellow African American and Mill sisters; it sparked many other movements to erupt. Davis informs readers that after Seneca, many other conventions were held like the Negro Convention (Davis). At the Negro Convention, organizers put great emphasis on encouraging and inviting both black and white women to join (Davis). I believe that this was an attempt to get all women of different classes and races together as a way to speak of the injustices they all faced without neglecting to share anyone’s stories. I believe that Davis is trying to tell readers that the Seneca convention made those who were forgotten feel as if they needed to take matters into their own hand so they could insure that their struggles were also noticed.

Lastly, another outcome of the Seneca Convention was Sojourner Truth. A couple of years after Seneca, Sojourner Truth attended the Akron convention where she delivered powerful speeches about women being equal to men and subtlety criticizing racist women (Davis). Sojourner included everyone and fought for all women especially those who were African American (Davis). I strongly believe that Davis included Sojourner truth and all her success that she gained through her speeches because she wanted readers to know that more is achieved when you include everyone. I also believe that she was trying to slightly insult women protesters at the Seneca convention by basically saying a woman apart of a group you failed to acknowledge didn’t forget to include you and was more effective with her speeches than you were at your convention.

Chapter three of Davis’s Women’s, Race & Class discussed many conventions held or attended by Women (Davis). Davis tried to tell readers that the Seneca convention that was meant to fight for all women ended up being a fight for certain kinds of women. She emphasized the impact that the Convention had on the women that were excluded by telling us that it motivated them to get out and share their story and the stories of women different from them. A major lesson I feel Davis was trying to convey to her readers is that we achieve more and our voices are better heard when we include everyone and work together.

Davis, Angela Y. “Chapter 3: Class and Race in the early Women’s Rights Campaign.” Women,

Race & Class. N.p.: Random House Inc., 1981. 52-74. Print.

I think Davis is trying to tell us that the Seneca Falls Convention had brought into light many issues that were absent in the convention, which would be later be the focus in future meetings. The focus of the convention was to discuss equality for women, but most of the individuals involved wanted to deter from actually talking about women’s suffrage. Like in the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the women did not have a voice. However, the difference between these two conventions is that in the London convention, the women did not have a say for anything that was being discussed, they were merely spectators in the crowd, while in the Seneca Falls convention, there was no primary focus regarding the rights of women, only various issues were acknowledged such as the effect marriage had on the status of women and reforming conditions for white working women. Marriage stripped away whatever a woman had to her name, such as her education background and skills. This was the case for Elizabeth Cady Staton, who had studied mathematics and Greek, and was studying law under her father, but soon after she was married, her status was changed to fulltime housewife and mother. This was known as the middle-class woman’s dilemma. Another issue was brought up in the convention, the issue of the working conditions of working-class white women. While this issue did not directly relate with many of the women in the convention and was neglected in a sense, it still affected the working women in there, such as Charlotte Woodward. The struggle Woodward had dealt with as a working woman can be compared to the middle-class woman’s struggle as both seek to be valued as equal to men, whether it be through the economic support provided or through the social status they hold in the family. Another issue that was also neglected was the struggle of Black women. The absence of this group of women in the convention showed the disregard the people have for them, when it is the Black women that suffers from both racism and sexism. However, this exclusion had brought upon a stronger presence for Black women in later years, in which Sojourner Truth would speak out at women’s rights meetings, fighting against racist and sexist oppression.

I believe that Angela Davis is trying to tell us that the lives and struggles of the working class and slaves must be recognized in order for the women’s movement to have a significant impact. The Seneca Falls Convention heavily focused their discussion around white middle class women, even though white working class women and Black women were a huge part of the women’s rights movement. Working class white women had more severe struggles than middle class white women did, as they had to work long hours in tight, cramped spaces and were exposed to illnesses and disease. This mainly took place in the textile mills, which was largely composed of women. The fact that this is completely overlooked in the Seneca Falls Convention shows a huge struggle between the two classes that needs to be resolved for the women’s rights movement to flourish. It is unacceptable that there was not even a mention of Black women during the convention, especially since these white women were the ones who said that the women’s rights movement must be supportive of the abolitionist movement. Another significant fact is that women were not even allowed to speak at abolitionist meetings and conventions. These issues that the white middle class women’s rights movement have with the working class community and the Black community needs to be fixed for the movement to fully be effective and reach the full population.

Sojourner Truth was a key figure in merging the abolitionist movement and the women’s rights movement. She described the struggle between wanting to be free from sexism and racism, which was something that was not addressed at the Seneca Falls Convention. I think that Angela Davis implies that without the Seneca Falls Convention, these issues of the lack of representation of working women and Black women would not be brought up, and Sojourner Truth is an extremely powerful woman who greatly contributed to allowing Black women to join the movement. I think that Davis also implies that there are great weaknesses in both the women’s rights movement and the abolitionist movement, because Black women were not welcome in the women’s rights movement, and all women were not welcome in the abolitionist movement. These movements need to co-exist in order for there to be a great impact on society, and having these two movements unite is what will reach out to more and more people who can relate to the cause, and even those who can’t relate but are willing to listen.

The inspiration for the Seneca Falls Convention was clearly rooted in the dismissive treatment of female abolitionists, whether in London at the World Anti-Slavery Convention or before, on the premise of human rights. Davis describes the struggle, for the organizers to define the varying nuance of women’s rights and the human rights of slaves. In hindsight, we can see that the rights discussed at either convention are no different in the oppression of humanity. What I see Davis pointing out is the dismissal of Charlotte Wood and admiration mixed with hesitation of Sojourner Truth. To negate the working woman, Charlotte Wood, is more than a classist issue. The working condition of the mills were no secret to the middle-class women, despite many of the women abolitionists not having to personally experience the conditions they must have known someone who had. Charlotte’s struggles for autonomy as a married woman working in the home were also easily identifiable as many of the married women had undervalued work they provided for their family.

Luckily for the organizers, Sojourner Truth was in attendance to direct the conversation. Presumably many of the middle class and bourgeoisie had never experienced any level of hard labor and if they had would likely not talk about it in mixed company. The male adversaries, then as now, are quick to emphasize the assumed weaknesses of women and by discouraging the women in attendance from speaking the men could maintain their supremacy. Fortunately, Sojourner had already survived extreme physical and emotional trauma and was entirely unfazed. Although she was a forceful and inspiring speaker, the economic and racial tensions between the white majority and Sojourner would overshadow her contribution to the convention and women’s movement, an issue that is alive and well to this day. Despite the Seneca Falls Convention’s success to create movement in the fight for women’s rights the blind spot on what defines oppression was left looming. Women’s rights are not specific to class or race and collectively uniting has consistently proven far more efficient. Davis suggests that the struggle we face, as women and a society, could be linked to our own self-imposed categorization of our differences instead of uniting our similarities. It is impossible to imagine what would have happened at Seneca Falls if Sojourner had never taken it upon herself to attend and speak for women. At the end of the day liberation is liberation and not connecting oppressive behaviors of capitalists, sexists or racists only perpetuates the “acceptance” in society.