Sojourner Truth
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Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–November 26, 1883) was the self-given name, from 1843, of an American abolitionist born into slavery from Hurley, New York. Her most famous speech, which became known as Ain't I a Woman? was delivered at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. (Her original name was Isabella Baumfree, but some sources list her name as Isabella Van Wagener.)
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[edit] Life
The year of her birth is uncertain, but is usually taken to be in 1797. While in slavery, she had five children with a man named Thomas Jeffery Harvey, whom she married.[citation needed] According to her 1851 Ain't I a Woman? speech, she bore thirteen children, most of whom were sold into slavery.[1]
She fled to Canada in 1827 with her daughter Sophie. After New York State abolished slavery, she returned there in 1829, working as a domestic servant for over a decade and joining Elijah Pierson in evangelical preaching on street-corners.
Later in life she became a noted speaker for both the Abolitionist movement and the women's rights movement.
In 1841, she went to Northampton, Massachusetts to join a utopian community, the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. When the association disbanded in 1846, she remained in Florence, Massachusetts, where she worked with a neighbor, Olive Gilbert, to produce a biography in 1850 known as the Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave.
In 1857, Truth moved to Michigan, where she continued her advocacy. During the American Civil War, she organized collection of supplies for the Union, and moved to Washington, D.C. after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, to work with former slaves. She also met President Abraham Lincoln.
She returned to Michigan in 1867 and died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, on November 26, 1883. She is purported to have said towards the end, "I'm goin' home like a shootin' star." She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek. In 1983, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
[edit] Modern references
- Ain't I a Woman? was quoted by animal-rights philosopher Peter Singer in Animal Liberation (1975) to support his argument that, if supposedly possessing a higher degree of intelligence does not justify the abuse by one gender or race of another, then it also cannot entitle human beings to exploit non-human animals:[2]
| They talk about this thing in the head; what do they call it? [“Intellect,” whispered someone nearby.] That's it. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full? |
- The leftist group the Sojourner Truth Organization is named after her.
- The NASA Mars Pathfinder mission's robotic rover was named "Sojourner" after her.[3]
[edit] Books
- Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave (1850).
- Dover Publications 1997 edition: ISBN 0-486-29899-X
- Penguin Classics 1998 edition: ISBN 0-14-043678-2. Introduction & notes by Nell Irvin Painter.
- University of Pennsylvania online edition (html format, one chapter per page)
- University of Virginia online edition (html format, 207 kB, entire book on one page)
- Carleton Mabee with Susan Mabee Newhouse, Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend (New York and London: New York University Press, 1993)
- Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1996)
- Erlene Stetson and Linda David, Glorying in Tribulation: The Lifework of Sojourner Truth (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994)
[edit] References
- ^ Sojourner Truth, December 1951, Ain't I a Woman? Modern History Sourcebook. Accessed 4 December 2006.
- ^ See What Is Animal Liberation? Excerpts From Philosopher Peter Singer's Groundbreaking Work. Accessed 4 December 2006.
- ^ NASA, NASA Names First Rover to Explore the Surface of Mars. Accessed 4 December 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
