Sojourner Truth Posters, Books, Video, Links for Learning

Sojourner Truth was born about 1797 in New York to slaves named James and Betsey and given the name Isabella. As a child she had several masters and her siblings were sold away.

Isabella suffered through the indignities of slavery - a forced “marriage” and the selling away of her children - and experienced a deep spiritual faith in God. Surviving and overcoming her enslavement, she heeded the call of God to a new name, Sojourner Truth, and became a travelling preacher.

Sojourner Truth, armed with her commanding presence - she was six feet tall - spoke out for women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. She was often challenged when she proclaimed a woman could do any job a man could do. To silence her critics who thought she was a man dressed as a woman - she would open her blouse and show her breasts.

Sojourner Truth could not read or write but in 1850 her dictated memoirs were published as The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. She became a well known speaker at anti-slavery and woman’s rights lectures and in 1851 she delivered her best known speech ‘Ain’t I A Woman?’ at the Women’s Rights Convention.

In 1857 Sojourner Truth moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, possibly to work with Quakers who had set up a station on the Underground Railway.

During the Civil War Sojourner Truth lived in Washington, DC, raising funds for Black Union soldiers and received an appointment to work with a physician at Freedmen's Hospital in 1865, nursing African-American soldiers and teacgubg others how to change bandages, wash wounds and make beds.

After the Civil War she returned to Battle Creek to continue her battles for women’s rights, working actively for the election of U. S. Grant, and attempting to vote in the 1872 election.

Sojourner Truth was an outspoken advocate of women's rights and black freedom. A riveting speaker and preacher, she made a lasting impression everywhere she spoke. During her legendary life, she challenged injustice wherever she saw it. Sojourner Truth was one of the first people in the country to link the oppression of black slaves with the oppression of women.

Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan on November 26, 1883.