At a height of six feet, and a former slave from New York, Sojourner Truth was perhaps one of the best-known abolitionists who advocated for women’s rights in the country’s history. She was a wife and mother, but more importantly, a survivor.
Early Life
Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County, New York in 1797, belonged to a Dutch family, and until she was nine or ten-years-old, she spoke only Dutch. After her owner died, John Neely bought her and she suffered greatly because she did not speak English. With the language barrier, she often misunderstood her orders, thus performing her duties incorrectly.
At the age of 13, John Dumont bought her, and she lived with the Dumont family for 17 years, and reportedly was praised for being a hard worker. Accounts of abuse during her time with the Dumont family are inconclusive. Some say that John Dumont beat her severely for not understanding him, and that his wife Sally sexually assaulted her frequently. However, in other accounts, Baumfree is purported as saying that Dumont “was a humane master who only whipped her once.”
Life at the Dumont Farm
During her time at the Dumont family farm, Baumfree was married to Tom, another slave owned by Dumont. Tom (whose surname is unknown) was married twice before and significantly older than Baumfree. Historical evidence shows that they had several children together. But after her escape to freedom, there is no further mention of him in connection to her, suggesting that the two did not have a strong emotional connection to one another.
In the fall of 1826, Baumfree decided to escape from the Dumont farm. She said she thought it was the right thing to do because John Dumont had promised to free her on July 4, 1826, but went back on that promise because he claimed that an injury in which she severed a finger had caused her to be less productive. Under the law in New York, she would have been free on July 4, 1827 when all slavery was outlawed.
Christian Conversion
Exactly when Baumfree was baptized in the Holy Spirit is unclear. One biographical account says that she began worshipping Christ while she was at the Dumont farm, and that she built a temple of brush in the woods, which is an African tradition that she likely learned from her mother. She spoke to God as if He were a familiar friend. But another account states she converted to Christianity after she escaped from Dumont.
After leaving Dumont, she began attending a Methodist Church in Kingston, NY, but shortly thereafter moved to New York City and joined a group led by a man named Matthias; however, the group disbanded in 1834 amid the emergence of a murder scandal. In 1843, after having a revelation from God that instructed her to leave New York, she became a traveling evangelist, and changed her name to Sojourner Truth.
In 1844, during her travels around the country, she joined the Northampton Association where she met other prominent abolitionists of the day, including William Lloyd Garrison, and Frederick Douglass. She stayed with the group until 1846.
Ain’t I a Woman?
In 1851, Sojourner Truth made what is known as her most famous speech at a women’s convention in Akron, Ohio. This is perhaps one of my favorite pieces of American literature. It is both entertaining and empowering. What many people don’t know is that Sojourner Truth may not have actually given that speech at all.
The text of the speech that we see most often, while entertaining and compelling, was not published until 1863 by Frances D. Gage. Gage’s version has Truth speaking with a Southern accent and stating that she had seen all 13 of her children sold off into slavery. The speech according to Gage stated that the audience greeted her with hisses. But this differs from other accounts.
Carleton Mabee’s version of the speech, given shortly after the event, says Truth was well received by the audience, and that she was well spoken even though she was illiterate. She was not known to speak with a Southern vernacular or exaggerate the number of children that she had, which though official accounts differ, was either five or seven children. She only saw one of her children sold away from her; and she filed a lawsuit to have him returned, an amazing feat at that time for a black woman.
There is no doubt that Sojourner Truth was an incredible woman. Nearly 130 years after her death, her life and work still inspire blacks and women everywhere to stand up for themselves and make the world a better place. We need more people like her, now more than ever.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html
http://theatre.wayne.edu/files/BTPplayguide.pdf
http://www.sojournertruth.org/Library/Speeches/AintIAWoman.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=EpN0sZ0_rPcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sojourner+truth+carleton+mabee&source=bl&ots=9NLGKBXCdc&sig=_QNvfOeB5K-D9w7FzBWnqV4yEaM&hl=en&ei=tXIrTczTNoP78AbT88iPAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Comments
Interesting to learn about Abolitionists
This may have opened up a chapter in my life that will help, me write my book. Even though it may seem obvious, I hadn't really thought to read about earlier freedom fighters. This was very interesting, although the article itself is only a small glimpse of the whole story. I want to find the two versions of her speech, and perhaps even more. History has often fascinated me, but most of the fascination has come through suffering and belittled people. Perhaps this is one of the keystones to my life's work.