What Black Woman Changed Her Name From Isabella Baumfree And Took Up Women's Rights And Abolition?

Sojourner Truth: "Own't I a Woman?"

by | May 28, 2018 | Biography |

by Cate Coleman

WILNET are pleased to continue our series commemorating the inspirational women of yesterday who helped shape the evolution of the field, with a dedication to Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883). Sojourner was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights apostle who gave a famous ad-lib spoken language "Ain't I a adult female?" which explained in plain language how women were equal to men.

Who was Sojourner Truth?

Sojourner Truth, born 1797 and originally known equally Isabella Baumfree, was born a slave in New York Land just escaped to liberty and became involved in moral reform and abolitionist work, later becoming a prominent speaker on issues of civil rights.

Freed from the shackles of slavery in 1827, one year before mandatory emancipation, Truth secured work as a domestic retainer. Following the end of slavery in New York, Truth learnt that her young son, Peter, had been sold by his slave owner to Alabama where slavery remained deeply entrenched. Assisted past her new employers she took Peter's former slave owner to court, alleging he had sold Peter illegally; she won the case and Peter was returned to her. The landmark instance represented i of the first times that a black woman had won a court case confronting a white human being.

Truth devoted her life to the abolitionist cause, advocating women'southward civil rights and seeking political equality for all women.

Career

In 1843 Truth changed her proper name from Isabella to Sojourner Truth, and thus began her career equally an activist and reformer, and her lifelong devotion to the abolition of slavery and other forms of injustice.

Truth immersed herself in traveling around America, advocating the freedpeople during the Reconstruction menstruum and speaking about the realities of slavery. A short time subsequently she became more agile in supporting women'southward rights, lending her skills and remarkable voice to the women's suffrage movement.

In 1850 her memoirs entitled "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave" were published, the income of which helped to support her travels and speaking commitments, which had now become high profile and were often at women's rights conferences.
In May 1851 she attended the Ohio Women's Rights Convention where she gave a famous extemporaneous spoken language – to be later named "Ain't I a Woman". The speech explained in plain language how women were equal to men, too as enervating equal rights for blackness people and women. Her speech left a strong impression on the audition who were moved by her personal start-hand accounts of slavery.

Being a speaker was a challenging role and she found herself constantly fighting the double prejudice of the times against both women and those of African-American roots. Often audiences were hostile, but Truth dealt with belligerent audiences skilfully and as her reputation grew, so did her popularity and her reception became more hospitable.

In 1856 she moved to Michigan where she continued to give speeches and lectures and too widened her telescopic of political problems – speaking increasingly confronting death penalty and on issues of prison house reform. In recognition of her works and public profile, she travelled to the White Business firm in Washington DC where she met with Abraham Lincoln and spoke of her experiences and behavior.

Contribution to International Constabulary

An impassioned speaker, abolitionist and feminist, Truth was a promoter of the avant-garde and helped change the way in which women and people with African-American roots were perceived. Whilst feminism has gained new impetus in more contempo times, there is no doubt that Truth can be heralded equally 1 of the first major advocates of women'southward rights and central speakers on feminist problems, paving the style for those to follow.

Notably, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1864 saw a major landmark in civil rights and was i of the few solid political achievements that Truth herself witnessed during her lifetime. 37 years post-obit her death a constitutional Amendment was enacted which barred voting discrimination on the grounds of sex, and information technology was non until the 1960s earlier voting rights for African-Americans were enshrined inside the law.

Truth is remembered every bit one of the headmost leaders of the abolition movement; indeed abolitionist lore is brimming with tales of her ambitious and humorous platform style, baring her breasts in response to a claiming to her womanhood and her remonstrance to Frederick Douglass on the issue of violence against slavery, "Frederick! Is God dead?". Equally such, the character, tone and substance of her language – her almost stiff legacy – reached far across her era and still resonates today.

Sources

Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography Sojourner Truth", Oxford.
Sojourner Truth Biography. Accessed May 2018.
The Reader's Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors, by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Accessed May 2018.
Folsom, Burton W. "Black History Month: The Crusade of Sojourner Truth," Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Gillis, Jennifer Blizin.Sojourner Truth.Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Library, 2006.
Library of Congress. "Today in History: Nov 26". Accessed May 2018.
"This Far by Faith: Sojourner Truth". Accessed May 2018.
Chicago – Michals, Debra. "Sojourner Truth." National Women's History Museum. 2015. Accessed May 2018.