African-American History Month: Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1797–1883)
Born into slavery, Sojourner Truth was destined to become one of history's most dynamic proponents of emancipation and women's rights. Her birth name was Isabella. She labored for several masters until the Fourth of July, 1827, when slavery was abolished in New York State.

Once legally free, her first order of business was to secure the return of her youngest son Peter, who had been illegally sold away from her to a slave owner in Alabama. She worked as a housekeeper and became deeply involved in religion and after several years she felt a call to become a traveling preacher.

She adopted a new name — Sojourner Truth — and began traveling through Long Island and Connecticut, speaking to people about her life and God. She was a powerful speaker and singer and touched many people in her ministry.

Truth moved to the Northampton Association, founded in 1841 as a cooperative community dedicated to pacifism, abolitionism and equality. After the association disbanded in 1846, Truth remained in Northampton. Although she was illiterate, Truth dictated her memoirs to Olive Gilbert. They were published in 1850 as The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. The popularity of that book, and her skill as a speaker, made her a sought–after figure on the anti–slavery woman's rights lecture circuit.

Sojourner Truth is especially remembered for her "Ain't I A Woman?" speech she gave at the woman's rights convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. She continued to lobby for the rights of African Americans and women until her death in 1883.

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