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 ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed 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 it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
This middle section of Sojourner Truth's speech is powerful in conveying the concept of intersectionality because she is able to pinpoint how Black women experience oppression different from white women. Although white women are oppressed in relation to the dominant white power structure, Black women face an additional layer of oppression through racism. Truth highlights how a women's movement led primarily by white women could potentially misrepresent or overlook the experiences of Black women, whose struggles are shaped by both gender and race.