Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech is presented in this paper and shown to be an effective vehicle for helping students discover the power of language and of literature. The paper first discusses the potentially destructive way English teachers sometimes tell students about "hidden meanings" in long and complex works and suggests that, to interest students in semantics, teachers should begin modestly. It then presents a witness's account of Sojourner Truth's speech, made in response to speeches by several ministers who opposed women's demands for suffrage, and shows ways that the speech can be discussed with students. It demonstrates how teachers can elicit meanings for the word "little" as used by Sojourner Truth in disputing the word of "dat little man in black dar" and how they can draw attention to the influence of Sojourner's speech upon her audience, to show students the power of words. (GW)