Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1797?-1883), American abolitionist and advocate of women’s rights. She was born into slavery in Ulster County, New York, to James and Elizabeth Bomefree, who named her Isabella. She first spoke Dutch because her parents were Dutch-speaking. She and a fellow slave named Thomas had four, or possibly five, children. In 1826 Isabella ran away from her master. In 1827 New York abolished slavery, and she gained her freedom. When her son Peter was illegally sold into slavery (he was an indentured servant), Isabella sued in 1827 to get him back with the help of members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1829 she moved to New York City.

Once in New York City, Isabella worked as a cook, maid, and laundress. She attended both the Methodist and African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches. In 1843 she took the name Sojourner Truth and began preaching along the eastern seaboard. She soon joined the abolitionist movement, which she enthusiastically embraced. For the next few years she toured the country speaking on its behalf. In the late 1840s she dictated her autobiography, Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1850), to Olive Gilbert.

Encountering the women’s rights movement in 1850, Truth added its causes to hers. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) she solicited gifts for black volunteer regiments, and President Abraham Lincoln received her in the White House in 1864. After the war, she worked to help freed slaves find work. She later tried to convince the government to provide former slaves with land in the West. Illiterate all her life, Truth was nevertheless an effective speaker, endowed with a charisma that often drew large crowds.