Episode 1 - Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth is one of the most imported social reformers in American history.  Truth is considered the first Black suffragist in the early-day women's movement.

Here we retell only a fraction of this trailblazer's extraordinary life.

Resources

1.  Painter, Nell Irvin. “Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol.” New York, NY W.W. Norton   & Company, 1996. 
2.  Somerville, Laura B. “Gentle Student Bend Thine Ear To My Speech” An Essay About Sojourner Truth, Abolitionist and Feminist.” West Michigan University, The Journal of Sociology and Welfare, Vol. 21, Issue 1 March, Article 3, 1994.
3.  Terborg-Penn, Rosalyn.  “African American Woman and the Struggle for the Vote,   1850 - 1920,” Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press,1998.
4.  Truth, Sojourner. “Narrative of Sojourner Truth; a Bondswoman of Olden Time,   Emancipated by the New York Legislature in the Early Part of the Present   Century; With a History of her Labors and Correspondence Drawn From her   "Book of Life." Battle Creek, Michigan, Published for the Author, 1878.
5.  Washington, Margaret “Sojourner Truth’s America.” Chicago, Illinois.  University of   Illinois Press, 2009.

“Black Suffragist in the Spotlight” is written and produced by Jennifer Rolle.  The music selection  “Passage” is by  Moija (Uppbeat);  “Future” and “Good Feelings” are by Aleksandr Shamaluev.   The cover art featuring photographs of the activists  Hallie Quinn Brown and Helen Nannie Boroughs are courtesy of the Library of Congress.  Please send inquiries to theblacksuffragist@gmail.com and visit theblacksuffragist.net for future media events. 

Transcript

Podcast Transcript 

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JENNIFER ROLLE:  Welcome to Black Suffragist in the Spotlight.  Featuring profiles of the unsung heroes of women’s suffrage.  Hello, I’m your host, Jennifer Rolle. Women of color have largely been a footnote in the narrative of women’s rights.  Bringing them here centerstage we call attention to their contribution to social justice and gender equity.  And our bite-sized biographies just might have you take a deeper dive into their amazing stories.                                            

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Dear Listeners,

Our first honoree endured the typical hardships of slavery: oppressive labor, physical assault, sexual abuse, and family separation. 

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However, from humble beginnings, she transformed into one of the most compelling figures in American history.  

 Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumtree in the Dutch community of Ulster County, New York, around 1797. One of ten-to-twelve children born to Elizabeth and James Baumfree, she was first sold as a 9-year-old along with a flock of sheep for one hundred dollars.  Enslaved at the farm of John DuMont for 17 years, she was forced into a union with a man several years her senior.    Isabella gave birth to five children, one of whom died at a young age.  

Under a 1799 New York State law, she was due to be emancipated on July 4, 1827.  DuMont, however, promised her freedom in 1826, but then he reneged on the offer.  Determined, Isabella took a leap of faith.  Early one morning in 1826, she gathered her infant Sophia, leaving behind her husband and remaining children. 

A distance away, in New Paltz, New York, she found refuge with Isaac and Maria Van Waganen, who paid the enslaver $20 for the remainder of her service.  In 1828, Isabella’s first victory as a free woman was winning a lawsuit for the return of her 5-year-old son, Peter, who was sold illegally to a family in Alabama.   

One year later, the pioneer was working as a housekeeper in New York City.  In 1843, she discovered her calling to preach after she had experienced  a- religious -awakening.   As itinerant minster, then known as Sojourner Truth, she traveled throughout New York and the Northeast corridor, eventually finding her way to New England.  

In Northampton, Massachusetts the evangelist became a member of “The Community” an abolitionist and utopian society.   There she mingled with leading reformers who introduced her to women's suffrage, pacifism, and temperance.  Up until the age of 9, Truth spoke only in Dutch.    She could neither read or write.  Even so, she became a commanding public speaker for women’s rights, when the movement was still considered a pastime for well-to-do white women.   

 In 1851, Truth delivered her most popular speech “Ain’t I A Woman” in Akron, Ohio.  Here she challenged prevailing racism and sexism.   Along with universal suffrage, Sojourner Truth championed desegregating streetcars and prison reform. During the Civil War, she recruited Black troops for the Union Army and, provided nursing care for the wounded.  After the war, she supported displaced African-American refugees -- namely formerly enslaved citizens.

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At her advanced age, she continued to fight for change.  In 1872, she attempted to cast a vote during the Presidential election -- and she failed.  But her action served as a symbolic blow for future ratification, of the 19th Amendment which over time, would give all women, a constitutional right to vote.    

Sojourner Truth, itinerant minister, abolitionist, and suffragist, spent her remaining years in Battle Creek, Michigan. 

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J.R. Thank you for listening to our spotlight series.  If you have a question, or if you would like to share your thoughts, please contact me at   theblacksuffragist@gmail.com . I’m Jennifer Rolle, please join me next time for another for tribute to an unsung trailblazers.  Until then, stay safe and be well.

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