Sojourner Truth: The Rise Of Feminism

“I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman?” -Sojourner Truth (. Feminism has been around for longer than most of us would think it has been (some historians believe feminism has existed since ancient Greece (Martha Rampton) ) ; we often forget that the women who fought for civil rights, were indeed, feminists. Many of the modern feminist ideas come from the women of the era when women had little, to few, rights of their own. Since the beginning of feminism, to where we are now, women have made history by fighting for what they think is right. Early American feminists, such as Sojourner Truth, were trying to lessen the problems of alcohol consumption, which would seem
Many things that happen in this short period of 30 years are still remembered now. The second wave of feminism was one movement out of many others during the time being, so just like any other civil rights movement, feminists held session for women to express their feelings or tell about their experiences which caused them to feel like they were in a difficult situation. But feminist still felt like their movement was less important; therefore, the feminist began to create women only organizations (Martha Rampton). The second wave of feminism also had some protests, one of them in Atlantic City, protesting against Miss America pageant from 1968 to 1969. Feminists fought against what mocked women, such as, being objects of beauty who stayed at home or kept in low-paying jobs (Martha Rampton). Another big problem that women tried to change, was the victimizing of rapist. Men could rape a women in this time and the man could leave a free man but the woman could possibly get sentenced to jail. Women were still seen as caretakers so this caused women to work the jobs that were seen as feminine and soft, but they pushed for same jobs/pay that the men had; despite being able to vote, women still got paid far less than men in the 1960s (“Modern Feminism”). Marriage and homemaking was seen as women's happiness in the 1960s
Even if it is not considered as real feminism wave, we can still see the big difference between when feminism first started in this country to where it is now. In the start feminism starting because women did not have many rights of their own. They could not own land, vote, speak in public without a man being by her side. Women often got their children taken away if they got a divorce. So when feminism first started it was to help change the country for the better of the future generations of women to come. Nowadays, feminism is a way for women to speak against what they feel like is wrong. It is no longer used in a way to help better the nation but to ridicule others. In the modern generation, their are women that would like to consider themselves feminist but can't because they do not fall under the ¨feminist¨ category because they are not women with high end jobs and no kids. Feminism as a whole is no longer what it use to be when women were fighting for the right to vote, it is now more of women protesting to be able to do whatever they