Bibliographic List of Sources:
“Woman’s Rights Convention.” Salem(OH) Anti-Slavery Bugle. June 21, 1851: 4. [= A]
Gage, F. D., “Sojourner Truth.” New York Independent. April 23, 1863: 1. [= B]
1. Speech Title exactly as it to be printed: “Address at the Woman’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, May 29, 1851.”
2. Exact Date and Place of Speech Delivery: 29 May 1851. Stone Church, Woman’s Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio.
3. Complete Name of Speaker, with year of birth and year of death: Sojourner Truth (c. 1797 – 1883).
4. Complete name of editor or compiler of electronic text, with indication of role: Michael Phillips-Anderson.
5. Date of electronic edition: October 4, 2011.
6. Languages: English (100%).
7. Library of Congress Subject Headings: Truth, Sojourner, d. 1883 –Oratory; Political oratory –United States –History –19th century; Antislavery movements –United States –History –19th century; Women’s rights –United States –History –19th century; LC classification: E185.97.T8.
8. Editing functions performed: data entry and proof-reading of electronic text, 30 March 2011 by Michael Phillips-Anderson.
Robinson Version–Statement of Editorial Procedures:
The copy text is entitled “Woman’s Rights Convention” (=A), a newspaper article that included a representation of the delivered speech. This selection was based on the access of the article’s author to the speech and the temporal proximity of its publication to the event. There were no audio recordings of the speech and no one claims to have written a precise transcription.
All paragraphing, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation are consistent with the copy-text.
Paragraph numbers have been added in square brackets.
The text of this edition has been thoroughly checked and proofread.
All double quotation marks are rendered with “, all single quotation marks with apostrophe ‘.
Special characters and characters with diachronic marks: none.
Departures from the Copy-Text and General Editorial Procedures: I have removed end-of-line hyphenation found in the original article.
Gage Version–Statement of Editorial Procedures:
The copy text is “Sojourner Truth” (=A), a newspaper article that included a representation of the delivered speech. There were no audio recordings of the speech and no one claims to have written a precise transcription. The article was first published nearly twelve years after Truth spoke at Akron. Gage admits that she has “given but a faint sketch of her speech.” This is the version that has most frequently been cited as Truth’s own words.
All paragraphing, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation are consistent with the copy-text.
Paragraph numbers have been added in square brackets.
The text of this edition has been thoroughly checked and proofread.
All double quotation marks are rendered with “, all single quotation marks with apostrophe ‘.
Special characters and characters with diachronic marks: none.
Departures from the Copy-Text and General Editorial Procedures: Gage’s account of the speech includes her comments interspersed with Truth’s words. I have removed all but one of these comments. The one that remains has been placed in brackets. The inclusion of this comment was necessary because Gage reported that Truth asked her audience a question to which someone responded. I have also removed end-of-line hyphenation found in the original article.