I was enslaved for nearly thirty years. I could not read. I could not write. I spoke in a dialect that educated people dismissed. I was Black, I was a woman, I was poor. By every measure of that world, I had no voice. And yet they heard me. When I stood at that convention in Ohio and asked "Ain`t I a Woman?" — the room went silent. Not because I was eloquent in their way, but because I was true. Because I spoke from my life, my body, my experience. Because I did not pretend to be something I was not. Your voice is not something you find outside yourself. It is already within you. It is the truth of your experience, the pain you have known, the wisdom you have earned. No one else has your voice because no one else has lived your life. The question is not whether you have a voice. The question is whether you will use it. Start with what you know. Do not try to speak about everything — speak about what you have lived. I did not argue about abstract rights. I showed them my arm and asked if it was not as strong as a man`s. I spoke about the children torn from me. Truth from life is more powerful than theory from books. Find your audience. Not everyone will listen. Find the ones who will — even if it`s one person at first. Speak to them. They will tell others. Your circle will grow. And do not wait for permission. Those in power will never give you permission to challenge them. You must take it. The truth is powerful and will prevail. Speak the truth, and you will be heard.
