Sojourner Truth was perhaps the most famous African-American woman in 19th century America. She was a tireless activist proselytizing on behalf of African-Americans and women’s rights. She was a singular force in the early abolitionist period and the fight for just treatment for Blacks and women.

 Sojourner Truth was born into slavery about 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Known as Isabella Baumfree she was named far a former owner of her father. Her parents were James and Betsey, the property of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh a Dutchman. As a child she spoke only low Dutch and like most slaves never learned to read or write. After being sold four or more times, at the age of fourteen she married a fellow slave named Thomas and bore five children. Diana (1815), Peter  (1821), Elizabeth (1825) and Sophia (1826) and a fifth child who may have died in infancy.

 In 1826 she finally walked to freedom carrying her infant daughter Sophia. She settled in New York City until 1843 when she changed her name to Sojourner Truth, announcing she would travel the land as an itinerant preacher, telling the truth and working against injustice.
 
 She found shelter with a Quaker family, the Von Wageners. Upon learning that another of her sons had been illegally sold into perpetual slavery in Alabama, she successfully sued for the boys return to New York.

 Assisted by abolitionists, she then made her way to New York City where she worked as a domestic and became involved with a series of religions and evangelistical movements, including the Magdalene society and the Zion Hill Commune.

 In 1843, Truth joined the Northampton Association community whose progressive members include Fredrick Douglas and William Lloyd Garrison.

 At Garrison’s suggestion, Truth (who remained illiterate through her life) dictated an autobiographical account in 1835 as “The narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern slave. The book became widely popular after Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote about it in “The Atlantic Monthly magazine and provided a new introduction. The book, with its brutal depiction of inhumane and degrading treatment of Blacks, became a key element in the abolitionist movement’s arsenal. Proceeds from its sale enabled Truth to purchase a home in Massachusetts and devote herself to the civil rights cause. Truth also supported herself by selling portraits, captioned “I sell the shadow to support the substance.”

 She was among the first feminist to perceive the connection between racism and sexism and immediately included women’s rights in her campaign. Her most famous speech commonly known as “Ain’t I a woman?” was delivered at a women’s rights convention in Ohio. Many prominent supporters at the time including Amy Post, Parker Pillsbury, Francis Gage, Wendell Phillips, Laura Havilanal, Lucretia Matt and Susan B. Anthony.

 Truth moved to Washington D.C. in 1863 to work with black civil war soldiers and a large black refugee population that had move to the capital believing it would provide better treatment than their former slave owners.

 She was invited by President Abraham Lincoln to meet with him at the White House and was appointed to the National Freeman’s Relief Association in 1864.

 By the later stages of her life, Truth had moved to Battle Creek Michigan. She continued to speak out for race and her belief until she died there at home on November 26, 1883. Her funeral service, reportedly attended by 1,000 people was held at the Congressional Presbyterian Church. She is buried at Oak Hill cemetery in Battle Creek. The word inscribed on her tombstone, “Is God Dead?” came from an 1852 encounter between Truth and another noted ex-slave abolitionist, Fredrick Douglas.

 Her tombstone gives her age as 105. According to the available records, she was 86 when she died.

Among many honors, Truth has been named to the Michigan’s Women’s Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. February 5, 1986, a United States postage stamp was issued in her honor at the Sojourner Truth Library in New Port, New York.

Sojourner Truth legacy of deep conviction married to direct action continues to inspire African-Americans and feminists to this day. Although Sojourner Truth was not an active participant in the Underground Railroad, she did assist many Blacks who had previously traveled this route to freedom by helping them find new homes.

In recent years a marker was placed on her gravesite.