Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1797?-1883) was the self-given name of a woman born into slavery. The year of her birth is uncertain, and is usually taken to be 1797. Originally Isabella Van Wagener, she escaped to Canada in 1827. After New York state had abolished slavery in 1929, she returned and worked as a domestic servant for over a decade, and joined 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. Perhaps one of her most famous speeches was Ain't I A Woman?, a short but pointed commentary delivered in 1851 at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio.

During the American Civil War, she organized collection of supplies for the Union. In 1850, she worked with Olive Gilbert to produce a biography, the Narrative of Sojourner Truth.

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See also: Slave narrative

References and external links:

• Narrative of Sojourner Truth: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html
• An obituary written by Harriet Beecher Stowe is available from the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/