Sojourner Truth was an African-American woman who from the 1820s until the day she died, fought for emancipation and women’s rights. Before she was officially known as Sojourner Truth; the activist, she was Isabella Baumfree; the slave. In New York, Baumfree spent her young years as a slave where she was faced with many of the cruelties of this forced lifestyle. Her siblings were ripped away from her family and sold to other plantation owners. Eventually, this was Baumfree’s reality as well. At nine years old she was sent to her second plantation owner and little did she know that she would have many more to follow. In 1810, she was sold to a man named John Dumont, whom she would spend the next 17 years serving. During this time she ended up
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Truth then began her journey as an evangelical speaker. She left New York to travel along the Connecticut River Valley and spread the word about “God’s love, wisdom, and power to countless rural audiences” (Hillstrom & Hillstrom). During this period, she became associated with well-known abolitionists Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and George Benson. All of the messages these men made about emancipation and women’s rights inspired Truth to incorporate her own statements about these issues. Her blunt, fiery points had made her “one of the abolitionist movements most popular speakers” (Hillstrom & Hillstrom).
In Ohio, Truth attended a women’s right convention to discuss the matter with other supporters. Though, this is not how it turned out for her at all. Male attendees were ridiculing women for wanting equal rights as men, which Truth was not having any part of. She stood up for her fellow women and gave one of he best known speeches,”Ain’t I a Women?”. She had stated that “if the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them”
Truth then began her journey as an evangelical speaker. She left New York to travel along the Connecticut River Valley and spread the word about “God’s love, wisdom, and power to countless rural audiences” (Hillstrom & Hillstrom). During this period, she became associated with well-known abolitionists Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and George Benson. All of the messages these men made about emancipation and women’s rights inspired Truth to incorporate her own statements about these issues. Her blunt, fiery points had made her “one of the abolitionist movements most popular speakers” (Hillstrom & Hillstrom).
In Ohio, Truth attended a women’s right convention to discuss the matter with other supporters. Though, this is not how it turned out for her at all. Male attendees were ridiculing women for wanting equal rights as men, which Truth was not having any part of. She stood up for her fellow women and gave one of he best known speeches,”Ain’t I a Women?”. She had stated that “if the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them”