Sojourner Truth

Q: Who was Sojourner Truth?

Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella Bomefree (l. c. 1797-1883) in Ulster County, New York, USA. She changed her name to "Sojourner Truth" in 1843 and became a popular and powerful speaker on abolition, women's rights, civil rights, and temperance.

Q: How did Sojourner Truth escape slavery in New York?

Sojourner Truth escaped slavery in New York State by simply walking away from her master and finding refuge with a neighbor.

Q: Is Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman" speech authentic?

No. The accepted, popular version of Truth's "Ain't I A Woman" speech of 1851 is a rewrite by the abolitionist and feminist Frances Gage in 1863, and it erases Truth's actual voice, depicting her as a Southern slave woman. The authentic version is the one recorded and published in 1851 by Rev. Marius Robinson.

Q: How did Sojourner Truth die?

Sojourner Truth died of natural causes on November 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Joshua J. Mark

Definition

Sojourner Truth (l. c. 1797-1883) was an African American abolitionist, women's suffrage advocate, and civil rights activist who famously "walked away" from slavery in 1826, sued in court for the return of her son and, between 1843 and her death in 1883, became one of the most popular lecturers and preachers in the United States.

More about: Sojourner Truth

Timeline

c. 1797 - 1883
Life of Sojourner Truth.
1806
Sojourner Truth sold for the first time to John Neely of Kingston, NY, who treated her poorly.
1808 - 1810
Sojourner Truth sold to other masters in New York's Ulster County.
1826
Sojourner Truth walks away from slavery and finds freedom.
c. 1826 - 1828
Sojourner Truth sues to win back her son, Peter, and wins.
1843
Sojourner Truth changes her name from "Isabella Bomefree" to Sojourner Truth and begins preaching against slavery and for women's rights.
c. 1843 - 1883
Sojourner Truth lectures against the evils of slavery and for abolition, women's rights, and temperance.
1850
Publication of The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave, an as-told-to autobiography.
1851
Sojourner Truth's famous "Ain't I A Woman" speech given in Akron, Ohio.
1863 - 1865
Sojourner Truth recruits Black soldiers for the Union army during the American Civil War.
1864
Sojourner Truth is invited to the White House to meet President Abraham Lincoln.
c. 1865 - c. 1880
Sojourner Truth continues to preach and lecture on equal rights for all.
c. 1867 - c. 1877
Sojourner Truth advocates for equal rights and land grants for former slaves and for equal rights for women.
1883
Death of Sojourner Truth of natural causes.