Sojourner Truth (c.1797 - 1883) was one of the most important human rights defenders in the United States in the 19th century. She was born a slave and achieved freedom, after which she dedicated her life to preaching and social activism.
When she was about 30 years old, after having passed through several owners, she escaped with her newborn daughter. Two years later, she went to court to recover her 7-year-old male child, who was held captive, although slavery had already been abolished in 1827..
Sojourner Truth is remembered for having fought not only against slavery, but for fighting for equal rights for women. In addition, he contributed to the recruitment of black troops during the American Civil War, and is considered one of the 100 most influential people in the history of that country..
Article index
Isabella “Bella” Baumfree (sometimes registered as Bomfree) was born around 1797 on the Swartekill ranch, located near Esopus, in upstate New York. His parents, Elizabeth and James Baumfree, were owned by the owner of those lands, Johannes Hardenbergh Jr.
After Johannes's death in 1799, Isabella became the property of his son Charles. This died around 1807 and was then sold to John Neely, who less than a year later sold it to Martinus Schryver.
After 18 months of service, in 1810, Schryver sold Bella to her last owner, John Dumont of New Paltz, who was treated much more graciously than Bella had received from the Neely family..
There she led a calmer lifestyle, yet John Dumont's wife, Elizabeth Waring Dumont, constantly harassed her..
When Bella was about 18 years old, she fell in love with a slave owned by Charles Catton Jr. who lived on a neighboring ranch, but the owner vetoed the relationship..
The slave, named Robert, was discovered one day while sneaking out to visit her. Catton and his son savagely beat him until Dumont arrived and was able to stop them. The brutal scene marked Isabella for life.
By 1815, Diana had already had two children. The paternity of the first, named James, who died as a baby, is unknown. It is speculated that it could have been Robert or Dumont. It is also believed that it could be the offspring of some of the people who frequented Schryver's tavern.
However, Diana, born in 1815, was almost certainly the daughter of her master..
In 1820, Isabella was married to another slave older than her, Thomas. The couple had three children: Peter, 1821, Elizabeth, about 1824, and Sophia, in 1926..
Dumont had promised Bella that he would release her a year earlier than the emancipation laws of the state of New York required. These forced the freedom of all slaves before July 4, 1827.
Upon arrival in 1826 John Dumont broke his word by falsely arguing that Isabella had done little work in recent months due to the loss of the index finger of her left hand.
Isabella's injury had been caused by overwork, as she had promised her master that she would be faithful and work very hard before her release..
In the fall of that year, Isabella Baumfree took her still nursing baby, Sophia, and set out for a Quaker settlement near Marbletown. These led the abolitionist movement of the state.
Thanks to them, Baumbfree found refuge in Esopus, in the home of Isaac D. Van Wagenen and his wife Maria Schoonmacher. Because Bella was still legally from Dumont, Van Vegenen bought her and her daughter for $ 25..
Although it was now legally owned by the new family, it was treated as a free person for the first time. On July 4, 1827, the day of legal emancipation, she was baptized in the Methodist Church and took the name Isabella Wan Wegenen.
Shortly after, Isaac Van Wegenen informed Isabella that her 5-year-old son Peter had been sold to an Alabama slave trader..
Under the laws of 1817, underage slaves had to remain in New York State in a kind of “virtual” slavery until they were of legal age, so their sale to a person from another state was illegal..
The Van Wegenens advised and supported her, as a result of which Bella took the case to the state courts. Finally, in 1928, the courts decided in his favor and he was able to get his son back. Isabella became one of the first black women to win a case against a white man.
In 1829, Isabella moved with Peter to New York City. There she worked as a homemaker for Elijah Pierson, a Christian evangelist. Five years later Pierson died, possibly from poisoning. Bella was charged as an accessory to the murder but was acquitted.
Around 1843, Isabella told those close to her that she had had a divine vision that ordered her to preach the truth of the faith. On June 1, Isabella Wan Wegerne took the name Sojourner Truth (which can be translated as "Pilgrim Truth").
Truth was a highly regarded speaker and singer, so many people attended the meetings where she was advertised. In 1844, she met William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and David Ruggles, who belonged to an abolitionist group that also advocated for women's rights..
That same year, Sojourner Truth gave his first abolitionist speech. Garrison was a very influential man with very radical ideas for his time.
Sojourner Truth not only incorporated her anti-slavery ideals into her speeches, but took on the ideas of complete equal rights for all, regardless of creed, race or gender..
In 1851, Sojourner Truth gave her most famous speech "Am I not a woman?" in Akrom, Ohio.
She then appeared before hundreds of audiences on the country's east coast, on topics such as abolitionism, equal rights for women, reform of the prison system, and also spoke out against the death penalty..
On November 26, 1883, Sojourner Truth passed away at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan. For several days he had looked bad and it was difficult for him to speak, but the illness that afflicted him was not identified.
Her coffin was carried by some of the most important people in the city and she was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in the same city..
- "If the first woman God made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, united women should be able to turn it around and put it right again!".
- “So that little man in black there says that women cannot have as many rights as men because Christ was not a woman, where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! The man had nothing to do with him ".
- "If women want more rights than they have, why don't they take them and stop talking about it?"
- “Children, who made your skin white, wasn't it God? Who made mine black, was it not the same God? Am I to blame, therefore, that my skin is black? Doesn't God love children of color as much as he does white children? And did not the same Savior die to save one as the other? "
- “In court, women have no right or voice; nobody speaks for them. I want the woman to have her voice there among the shysters. If it is not a suitable place for women, it is not suitable for men to be there ".
Yet No Comments