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The Life of Sojourner Truth

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The Life of Sojourner Truth
The Life of Sojourner Truth I. Early Life
A. Born a slave in 1797
1. Isabella Van Wagner, in upstate New York
2. She married an older slave and started a family.
B. Sojourner Truth the most famous black female orators
1. She lectured throughout Northeast and Midwest on women 's rights, religion and prison reform.
2. "Ain 't I a Women" speech May 29, 1851
II. Moving to start a new life.
A. The Civil War
1. She nursed soldiers, collected food and clothing for black volunteer regiments
2. The second edition of Truths Narrative
B. Sojourner Truth in her 60 's
1. Displayed the energy and determination that was inherent in her character.
2. Saying words of encouragement to black troops stationed in Detroit.
III. Meeting Lincoln October 29, 1864
A. National Freedman 's Relief Association
1. Appointed her to work as a counselor to freed slaves in Virginia.
2. Filed suits to affirm that black people had legal rights.
B. Sojourners journey in the 1870 's
1. Her visit with President Grant and the U.S. Senate in 1870
2. Advocating hanging as punishment for murder.

Heather Hawthorne
History 377
Dr. Schmider
October 1,2003
The Life of Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth wasn 't just a heroine to blacks, slaves, and women. She was also an abolitionist and a champion of women 's rights speaking throughout the country. She acted on her strong feelings about life and the way it should be. But, in my hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan where Sojourner Truth spent her last years, she is known for her powerful speeches that traveled the nation advocating for the fair treatment of freed slaves.
Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella Baumfree in upstate New York. Bell, as she was known, spent her youth as a member of several different households, after she was sold to a new master, and separated from her parents at the age of nine. However, she had already received moral and spiritual education from her mother. These lessons formed


Cited: Patten, Neil A, The Nineteenth Century Black Women as Social Reformer: The New Speeches of Sojourner Truth, Negro History Bulletin, 49:1 (1986, Jan/Mar) Association for the study of African-American Life and History "Sojourner Truth." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols., Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2003. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC "Sojourner Truth." Feminist Writers. St. James Press, 1996. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2003. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC "Sojourner Truth." Historic World Leaders Gale Research, 1994. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2003. http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC
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