Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I A Woman?” Speech given in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.  Song interpretation by Anne Feeney, Original Recordings. Anne Feeney (2004). That man over there say      a woman needs to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches      and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helped me into carriages    or over mud puddles       or gives me a best place. . . And ain't I a woman?      Look at me Look at my arm!      I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns      and no man could head me. . . And ain't I a woman?

I could work as much and eat as much as a man--    when I could get to it-- and bear the lash as well    and ain't I a woman? I have born 13 children      and seen most all sold into slavery and when I cried out a mother's grief      none but Jesus heard me. . . And ain't I a woman?   That little man in black there say a woman can't have as much rights as a man      cause Christ wasn't a woman 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 together women ought to be able to turn it      rightside up again.

c. 1797-1883 top

Nina Simone. “Four Women.” Four Women: The Complete Nina Simone on Philips. Verve (2003).  My skin is black My arms are long My hair is wooly My back is strong Strong enough to take the pain Inflicted again and again What do they call me? My name is Aunt Sarah My name is Aunt Sarah		My skin is yellow My hair is long Between two worlds I do belong My father was rich and white He forced my mother Late one night What do they call me? My name is Siffronia My name is Siffronia
	My skin is tan My hair is fine My hips invite you My mouth like wine Whose little girl am ? Anyone who has money to buy What do they call me? My name is Sweet Thing My name is Sweet Thing
	My skin is brown And my manner is tough I’ll kill the first mother I see My life has been rough I’m awfully bitter these days ’Cause my parents were slaves What do they call me? My name is  Peaches		top

Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek: Reflection Eternal (Train of Thought) “For Women.” Rawkus (2001).

 
[Talib Kweli] (Spoken)

Yea, so we got this tune called "For Women" right
Originally, it was by Nina Simone
She said it was inspired by, you know
Down south.

In the south, they used to call her Mother Antie
She said No Mrs.
Just Antie
She said if anybody ever called her Antie
she'd burn the whole goddamn place down
I'm over past that
Coming into the new millenium,

we can't forget our elders

[Talib Kweli]
I got off the 2 train in Brooklyn on my way to a session
Said let me help this woman up the stairs

before I get to steppin'
We got in a conversation she said she a 107
Just her presence was a blessing

and her essence was a lesson
She had her head wrapped
And long dreads that peeked out the back
Like antenna to help her get a sense of where she was at

Imagine that
Livin' a century, the strength of her memories
Felt like an angel had been sent to me
She lived from nigger to colored to negro to black
To afro then african-american and right back to nigger
You figure she'd be bitter in the twilight
But she alright, cuz she done seen the circle of life yo
Her skin was black like it was packed with melanin
Back in the days of slaves she packin'

like Harriet Tubman
Her arms are long and she moves like song
Feet with corns, hand with callouses
But her heart is warm and her hair is wooly
And it attract a lot of energy even negative
She gotta dead that the head wrap is her remedy
Her back is strong and she far from a vagabond
This is the back of the masters' whip used to crack upon
Strong enough to take all the pain, that's been
Inflicted again and again and again and again and flipped it

to the love for her children nothing else matters
What do they call her? They call her aunt Sara.

 
Woman singing in the background

[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)

I know a girl with a name as beautiful as the rain
Her face is the same but she suffers
an unusual pain
Seems she only deals with losers
who be usin' them games
Chasin' the real brothers away like she
confused in the brain
She tried to get it where she fit in
on that American Dream mission paid tuition
For the receipt to find out
her history was missing and started flippin
Seeing the world through very different eyes
People askin' her what she'll do when it comes time to choose sides
Yo, her skin is yellow, it's like her face is blond word is bond
And her hair is long and straight just like sleeping beauty
See, she truly feels
Like she belong in 2 worlds
And that she can't relate to other girls
Her father was rich and white

still livin' with his wife
But he forced himself on her mother
late one night
They call it rape that's right
and now she take flight
Through life with hate and spite inside her mind
That keep her up

To the break of light a lot of times

(I gotta find myself) (3X)

She had to remind herself
They called her Safronia the unwanted seed
Blood still blue in her vein and
still red when she bleeds

(Don't, don't, don't hurt me again) (8X)

[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)

Teenage lovers sit on the stoops up in Harlem
Holdin' hands under the Apollo marquis
dreamin of stardom
Since they was born
the streets is watchin' and schemin'
And now it got them generations facin' diseases
That don't kill you they just got problems
and complications that get you first
Yo, it's getting worse,
when children hide the fact that they pregnant
Cuz they scared of giving birth
How will I feed this baby?
How will I survive, how will this baby shine?
Daddy dead from crack in '85,
Mommy dead from AIDS in '89
At 14 the baby hit the same streets
they became her master
The children of the enslaved, they grow a little faster
They bodies become adult
While they keepin' the thoughts of a child her arrival
Into womanhood was heemed up by her survival
Now she 25, barely grown out her own
Doin' whatever it takes strippin',
workin' out on the block
Up on the phone, talkin' about
(my skin is tan like the front of your hand)
(And my hair...)
(Well my hair's alright whatever way I want to fix it,
it's alright it's fine)
(But my hips,
these sweet hips of mine invite you daddy)
(And when I fix my lips my mouth is like wine)
(Take a sip don't be shy, tonight I wanna be your lady)
(I ain't too good for your Mercedes,
but first you got to pay me)
(You better quit with all the question, sugar
who's little girl am I)
(Why I'm yours if you got enough money to buy)
(You better stop with the compliments
we running out of time,)
(You wanna talk whatever we could do
that it's your dime)
(From Harlem's from where I came,
don't worry about my name,)
(Up on one-two-five they call me sweet thang)

\Scratches + Woman singing in the background
[Talib Kweli] (+ Background Vocals)

A daughter come up in Georgia, ripe and ready