Sojourner Truth

An escaped slave, Sojourner Truth never grew tired of fighting oppression. She took on a name that meant someone who only lives in a place for a brief period, speaking spiritual truths. Truth viewed herself as a traveling preacher. She traveled the country to bring her message of the Gospel, abolition, women's suffrage, and civil rights.

Fig.1 - Sojourner Truth

Early Life

The woman who would one day become known as Sojourner Truth was born under the name Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in Dutch settled Ulster Country, NY. Her parents James and Elizabeth could do nothing as their owner sold the nine-year-old Isabella in a lot with some sheep for $100. Her cruel new owner beat her severely and she was sold two more times.

Becoming Sojourner Truth

The Van Wagenens' impacted Baumfree was also spiritual. They were a devoutly religious family, who influenced her to become a Christian as well. When she left the Van Wagenens, she moved to New York City to work for one preacher and then another. All of this religious community around a movement called The Second Great Awakening is what inspired her to change her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843. The new name reflected her conviction to travel, spreading the Gospel and a message against oppression.

Fig.2 - Sojourner Truth Portrait

Sojourner Truth wasted no time in beginning her crusade against human enslavement. She traveled the country and brought the message outside of her native New York State. Truth also became involved in other struggles against oppression such as women's rights. Along the way, she met some of the most influential figures of her day.

Northhampton Association of Education and Industry

The first organization she joined was the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts. This began her life as an activist. Within the organization she met another abolitionist who lamented the broken promise of the Fourth of July, Frederick Douglass.

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

In 1850, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth appear in print. This autobiography was part of a true enslavement experience genre that was growing support for abolition at the time. Sojourner Truth herself was illiterate but she dictated the book to a woman named Olive Gilbert. The book reached a large audience and received great acclaim.

"Ain't I a Woman?" Speech

Truth was an activist not just for her rights as a Black person, but also as a woman. At the 1851 Ohio Women's Rights Convention, she delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech. The speech was about bringing the struggle for racial equality to the struggle for gender equality. Although the speech received some coverage at the time, it became popularized when the white abolitionist who had set up the convention, discussed it twelve years later in the National Anti-Slavery Standard. The article highlighted the line "Ain't I a Woman," but the accuracy of the piece was later controversial.

Her Voice Heard

The speech moved the audience with the stories of her struggles as a Black woman. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony spoke with her directly after the address. She was now moving in the circles of two movements against oppression, that of women and that of Black people.

Controversy Over Speech

None of the accounts from when the speech actually was made include the well-known "Ain't I a Woman?" line. Some historians now believe that she likely did not say it. It is believed that line and others in the speech were reported as having been delivered in a southern dialect, as that is what audiences at the time expected a former enslaved person to sound like. However, Truth had spent her entire life in the north and spoke with a Dutch accent. The article also had other inaccuracies such as the number of children that Sojourner Truth had.

Battle Creek, MI

In 1857, Truth followed some of her daughters to Battlecreek. From the town of Battle Creek, she continued her activist work. During the Civil War she would travel from her home in support of abolition and civil rights.

The Civil War

Like many Black leaders, Sojourner Truth worked to further the Union cause. She traveled the encourage black men to take up arms and fight against the Confederacy. However, despite meeting with President Abraham Lincoln himself, she found continued discrimination in Washington DC.

Fig.3 - Sojourner Truth and Abraham Lincoln

Meeting with Lincoln

As a result of her work, President Lincoln invited her to the White House in October 1864. He had already signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the people who had been enslaved in the Confederacy. During their meeting he showed her a Bible that he had received from Black people.

Segregation

Just because the Union outlawed human enslavement did not mean that black people were treated equally to white people. At the time Sojourner Truth visited Washington, DC segregation of public facilities was in place. She made a stand against this by riding in a white only streetcar. She faced some resistance, even suffering a shoulder injury from one white driver who did not wish to take her. Soon, streetcars were desegregated in the city thanks to her efforts.

Post-Civil War

With the close of the Civil War, there was a great deal of work to be done on behalf of black people in the United States. Although now legally free, discrimination was still a major problem. Truth worked with the Freedman's Bureau. She tried to support newly freed people in any way she could, from finding jobs to unsuccessfully petitioning Congress for land grants to freed slaves.

Death

Sojourner Truth passed away on November 26, 1883. She died of old age in Battle Creek home. She was 86 years old. Her tombstone bears the inscription "Is God Dead?", a question she posed to Frederick Douglass when she felt he needed faith.