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Description
I am a woman

I am a woman

with skin pale like a moonbeam

with skin dark as the soil

born of a father who owns many plantations

born of a father who was sold before I was five years old

and a mother that was unhappy

and a mother that died miserably of typhus when she was twenty-eight.

I am a woman that is kept silent.

I am a woman that is kept silent.

I am not to speak about politics,

If I speak out of turn, they'll whip me,

I have no right to speak in public

I have no rights.

I am a woman with two beautiful daughters

I am a woman who has borne four children and seen them taken away

that I weep for, knowing they will never have the lives boys would;

that I weep for, knowing that they will never know anything but hard labor;

they will probably never go to college

they will probably never leave the plantation where they have toiled all their
lives.

I am a woman whose husband has all the power.

I am a woman whose husband was sold away.

My husband tells me I am inferior,

My master tells me not to struggle,

he does not love our daughters much

he sends our children to toil in his fields.

Legally, he owns all my property.

Legally, I am his property.

I am a woman who must work all day at being lady-like.

I am a woman who must work from sunrise until there is no light left in the
sky.

Sometimes I have trouble sleeping, thinking about the injustice I live in.

Sometimes, I have trouble sleeping because of the stench and the cries of sick
children, but usually I am too exhausted for it to bother me.

When I die, I hope it will be in equality at last.

When I die, I hope my children will not have to watch.

Even my house-slave refuses my authority

Sometimes I try to get my mistress to understand

I have to remind her that I am in charge

I try to show her what her husband does to me

so I show her her place

she hits me hard across the face

I wish I could get some respect around here

I wish I could get someone to listen to me.

If only men could see

that we are their equals.

Description
I am a woman

I am a woman

with skin pale like a moonbeam

with skin dark as the soil

born of a father who owns many plantations

born of a father who was sold before I was five years old

and a mother that was unhappy

and a mother that died miserably of typhus when she was twenty-eight.

I am a woman that is kept silent.

I am a woman that is kept silent.

I am not to speak about politics,

If I speak out of turn, they'll whip me,

I have no right to speak in public

I have no rights.

I am a woman with two beautiful daughters

I am a woman who has borne four children and seen them taken away

that I weep for, knowing they will never have the lives boys would;

that I weep for, knowing that they will never know anything but hard labor;

they will probably never go to college

they will probably never leave the plantation where they have toiled all their
lives.

I am a woman whose husband has all the power.

I am a woman whose husband was sold away.

My husband tells me I am inferior,

My master tells me not to struggle,

he does not love our daughters much

he sends our children to toil in his fields.

Legally, he owns all my property.

Legally, I am his property.

I am a woman who must work all day at being lady-like.

I am a woman who must work from sunrise until there is no light left in the
sky.

Sometimes I have trouble sleeping, thinking about the injustice I live in.

Sometimes, I have trouble sleeping because of the stench and the cries of sick
children, but usually I am too exhausted for it to bother me.

When I die, I hope it will be in equality at last.

When I die, I hope my children will not have to watch.

Even my house-slave refuses my authority

Sometimes I try to get my mistress to understand

I have to remind her that I am in charge

I try to show her what her husband does to me

so I show her her place

she hits me hard across the face

I wish I could get some respect around here

I wish I could get someone to listen to me.

If only men could see

that we are their equals.