By Chiwueze Chukwu, '08

Richard Cordero, '07

and Kendra Greene, '08

“Throughout her life, Truth continuously reminded her allies that women were half of the slave population, and without changing the condition of all women oppressed, black women could not achieve freedom.”

- Nuriyah Bone-Owens,

presenter at the
National Abolitionist Hall of Fame

Nuriyah Bone-Owens announces  Sojourner Truth as one of four inductees into the National Abolition Hall of Fame for 2007.

Photo by Nicole Davis, '08

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Being one of thirteen children born to two slaves (Elizabeth & James) on the Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh estate, Isabella learned and only spoke Dutch until later being sold.

Truth was first sold at the age of nine, and as a slave, endured the treatment that cruel masters commonly subjected their slaves to at this point in American history.  Only knowing Dutch at such a young age, often left Truth beaten with harmful objects for not knowing any English which was the only language spoken by her masters. Coming to terms with her fate, Truth began looking to religion to help her get through her terrible ordeal of being mistreated and abused.

Later, after being sold again around 1815, Truth had relations with another slave named Robert, who was later said to be killed by his master for interacting with a slave (Truth) from another plantation. Truth and Robert had a daughter, who would become her eldest child. She would go on to have four more children with a slave named Thomas under demand of her master, John Dumont. Truth and Thomas would go on to have two boys and two girls.

When the State of New York abolished slavery in 1827, Dumont promised Truth freedom a year prior to the July 4 deadline. When she wasn’t granted this promise because of a so-called “lack of production,” Truth ran away along with her youngest daughter, Sophia. In a stroke of luck, Truth landed at the doorstep of a couple who offered her cruel master money for her freedom. When Dumont accepted, Truth had a life-changing religious experience perhaps after finally having her prayers answered by finding people who treated her more as an equal than anybody else she had encountered before in her life.

From this point on Truth, was still named Isabella Baumfree until changing her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843. She became very involved in the movement for equality not only for slaves, but women both black and white. Truth went on campaigns to spread the word of equality throughout the country, in the process meeting other influential abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.  In 1850, Garrison would publish a book written by Truth titled, “The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave,” which accurately depicted life for a slave and was very influential in creating a stronger abolitionist movement prior to the American Civil War.

During the war, Truth was a fundraiser for black regiments that needed food and supplies because they receive less than white regiments. Truth also attempted to get employment for those soldiers who served during the war. She was surely ahead of her time in fighting not only for emancipation, but equality. She met with President Lincoln to discuss and put an end to segregation in public places. She would later ask Congress for a free “Negro” state for those ex-slaves who still faced mistreatment by others. She helped freed slaves make the transition both westward and northward a little easier by providing food and other resources for them.

Most people remember Sojourner Truth for her famous “Ain’t I a woman” speech in 1854 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, which she gave in presence of some women who didn’t even want her there. With her tall, slender frame, she rose to speak with elegance and grace as she left the podium to the sound of thunderous applause, according to some accounts.

Perhaps Truth’s work is summed up best by Nuriyah Bone-Owens, presenter at the National Abolitionist Hall of Fame, who said, “Throughout her life, Truth continuously reminded her allies that women were half of the slave population, and without changing the condition of all women oppressed, black women could not achieve freedom.”

Truth would return to the central New York area many times throughout her crusade for equality to visit those like Garrett Smith in Peterboro who were so influential in helping truth spread her message.

Sojourner Truth ended her almost 60-year journey to Michigan to be with her family. She died in 1883 at the age of 86.