Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York as Isabella Baumfree. In 1815, she born her first child to a slave from a neighboring farm whose owner forbade them to marry. Two years later Isabella’s owner compelled her to marry one of his own slaves, with whom she had a son and three daughters.
In 1826, a year before the state of New York completed its gradual emancipation of slaves, her owner, Dumont, reneged on a promise to free her as a reward for hard work. Infuriated, she worked until she believed that she had satisfied her obligation to him and then walked away with her infant daughter. A couple named Van Wenger took them in and paid her owner $20 as compensation for her services until emancipation took effect in 1827.
While working for Van Wagenen she discovered one of her children had been illegally sold into slavery. Since this son had been emancipated under New York Law, Isabella sued in court and won his return. She became the first African American woman to win a case of that nature.
On June 1, 1843, she took the name Sojourner Truth, believing this to be on the instructions of the Holy Spirit and became a traveling preacher (the meaning of her new name). In the late 1840s she connected with the abolitionist movement, becoming a popular speaker. In 1850, she also began speaking on woman suffrage. Her most famous speech, Ain't I a Woman?, was given in 1851 at a women's rights convention in Ohio. The speech is known in several variants, because Sojourner Truth herself did not write it down.
During the Civil War, Sojourner Truth raised food and clothing contributions for black regiments, and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864. While there, she tried to challenge the discrimination that segregated street cars by race.
After the War ended, Sojourner Truth again spoke widely, advocating for some time a "Negro State" in the west. She spoke mainly to white audiences, and mostly on religion, "Negro" and women's rights, and on temperance, though immediately after the Civil War she tried to organize efforts to provide jobs for black refugees from the war.
In 2009, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were present at the unveiling of a Sojourner Truth bust which is on display in the U.S. Capitol. Truth became the first African-American woman to have a memorial bust in the U.S. Capitol.
"One could only imagine what Sojourner Truth, an outspoken, tell-it-like-it-is kind of woman ... what she would have to say about this incredible gathering," first lady Michelle Obama said at the Celebration of Truth ceremony. "We are all here because, as my husband says time and time again, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Sojourner Truth." Cicely Tyson delivered a moving performance of "Aint I a woman" at the ceremony. Check the video below:
HUSL Today Salutes Sojourner Truth!
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