SOJOURNER TRUTH

Sojourner Truth



Sojourner Truth

Background of the Pioneer (Sojourner Truth)

Sojourner Truth was a very famous black woman. She was the first black woman to speak out . against slavery! Back then her name was not Sojourner Truth. Her name was Isabella Baumfree. She was born in Ulster County, New York in 1797. The first family she was sold to was a Dutch family called the Hardenberghs. When she was sold to the Hardenberghs, she did not speak English or Dutch. But time after time, while she was with the Hardenberghs, she started to speak their language called low Dutch.

The second family she was sold to was the Nealys. While the Nealys spoke English, Isabella still spoke low Dutch. She did not know any English nor did she know how to read or write. Her third family was she was sold to be a family named Dumonts. She was 12 and very strong and worth more money because she could do a man's work at day, but a woman's work at night. Often she had talks with god about her feelings, and wished that she would be freed someday. When Isabella was 17, her master married her to another slave called Thomas. And later on, she had five children: Diana, Elizabeth, Hannah, Peter and Sophie. In 1824, Isabella heard wondrous news that on July 4,1827 she would be free. Finally her prayers had been answered! But when Dumont heard this, he said that if she would do a very good job, he would free her a year earlier. She hurt her hand badly, but that did not stop her. When 1826 came, her master refused to free her because of her hand. It had stopped her from working. Her master had broken his word to her. So one night, she took her baby, Sophie, and ran away. Time after time, when she got older, she became very tall. In fact, she became 6 feet tall. She was a determined woman and she had a very deep and power full voice. When she was setting out to be free, Isabella decided to call herself Sojourner (which means traveler and truth), because she was going to preachy the gospel. In 1857, Sojourner Truth moved to a town near Battle Creek, Michigan. She had enough money to buy a small house. Her daughters were free now, and they soon moved there too. Sojourner Truth felt that she had a real family at last!

In 1863, one of the wars most awful battles was fought. In the Battle of Gettysburg, 45,000 men died in just 3 days of fighting. In 1864, Sojourner Truth met Abraham Lincoln at the White House. She told President Lincoln that he was the best president the country had ever had. But she did admit that she had not heard of him before he ran for president. Before he could help free blacks, he was assassinated. His death shocked the country.

When Sojourner was nearly 70, she complained to the streetcar company because black ...