Sojourner Truth

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Sojourner Truth

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Sojourner Truth c.1797-1883, American abolitionist, a freed slave, originally called Isabella, b. Ulster co., N.Y. Convinced that she heard heavenly voices, she left (1843) domestic employment in New York City, adopted the name Sojourner Truth, and traveled throughout the North preaching emancipation and women's rights. A remarkable personality, she spoke with much effectiveness even though she remained illiterate.

Bibliography: See O. Gilbert, Narrative of Sojourner Truth (1878, repr. 1968); biographies by A. H. Fauset (1938, repr. 1971), H. E. Pauli (1962), and E. B. Claflin (1987).

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Sojourner Truth

The Oxford Companion to United States History | 2001 | | © The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797–1883), abolitionist, feminist, and Pentecostal preacher.Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella in Ulster County in New York's Hudson River valley. During her enslavement, Isabella married and bore five children. Emancipated by a New York State law passed in 1828, she embraced a “perfectionist” (Pentecostal) Methodism. She also sued successfully for the return of Peter, her young son, who had been illegally sold into slavery in Alabama.

Moving with Peter to New York City in 1828, Isabella joined the utopian religious community “Kingdom of the Prophet Matthias (Robert Matthews)” for a time in the early 1830s. On 1 June 1843, Pentecost Sunday, at the height of the Millerite adventist movement, wherein William Miller had predicted Christ's second coming in 1843–1844, the voice of the Holy Spirit told her she was Sojourner Truth, itinerant preacher. That winter, Truth settled in an industrial commune, the Northampton Association in Massachusetts. There she imbibed feminism and abolitionism, met William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, and dictated the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Between 1850 and 1864, Truth frequently participated in feminist and antislavery meetings. She spoke at an Akron, Ohio, women's rights meeting in 1851 but—contrary to later accounts—did not ask, “Ar'n’t I a woman?”

Truth saw the Civil War as a kind of Armageddon struggle remaking American society. She embraced political action (which, as a Garrisonian, she had earlier repudiated), and in 1864 campaigned for Abraham Lincoln's reelection. After the war she championed woman suffrage. Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she lived with her two surviving daughters.
See also African American Religion; African Americans; Antebellum Era; Millennialism and Apocalypticism; Pentecostalism; Utopian and Communitarian Movements; Woman Suffrage Movement; Women's Rights Movements.

Bibliography

Nell Irvin Painter , Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol, 1996.
Nell Irvin Painter, ed., Narrative of Sojourner Truth, 1998.

Nell Irvin Painter

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Paul S. Boyer. "Sojourner Truth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Paul S. Boyer. "Sojourner Truth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (July 9, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-SojournerTruth.html

Paul S. Boyer. "Sojourner Truth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Retrieved July 09, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-SojournerTruth.html

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Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol.(Review)
Magazine article from: The Historian; 1/1/1999; ; 700+ words ; Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol. By Nell Irvin Painter...whom she writes, Nell Irvin Painter's Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol embraces the complex...Van Wagenen--later to rename herself Sojourner Truth--died at her home in Grand Rapids, Michigan... Read more
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Magazine article from: Jet; 11/28/1994; 65 words ; Sojourner Truth, Civil War heroine and abolitionist, died on this day in Battle...outlawed in the state in 1827. She changed her name from Isabella to Sojourner Truth. Sojourner never learned to read or write, but for 40 years she was one of... Read more
Mars robot 'Sojourner' named by Black girl to honor abolitionist Sojourner Truth. (Valerie Ambroise wins NASA contest; includes the text of the winning essay)
Magazine article from: Jet; 7/28/1997; 700+ words ; Black history heroine Sojourner Truth is being remembered in a special...The Sojourner is a tribute to Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and champion...Wagener, but she changed it to Sojourner Truth. She said, The Lord named me... Read more
A SOUL ON FIRE.(Sojourner Truth)
Magazine article from: Sojourners Magazine; 9/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...marks the 150th anniversary of Sojourner Truth's famous Arn't I A Woman? speech...us today? In 1851, ex-slave Sojourner Truth addressed a convention of white...the midst of the squabbling, Sojourner Truth asked a simple question Arn... Read more
Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth among historic heroines whose stories are told at National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.(Advertorial)
Magazine article from: Jet; 2/9/2004; 367 words ; ...Center are those of freedom fighters Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, whose exploits also are highlighted on the Teaching...and spy for the Union Army before her death in 1883. Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree, circa 1797, in Ulster... Read more
Lerner/Carolrhoda.(Sojourner Truth)(Bessie Coleman)(Ariel Sharon)(Cesar Chavez)(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
Magazine article from: Children's Bookwatch; 10/1/2005; 168 words ; ...The very young will find appropriate Gwenyth Swain's Sojourner Truth (1575056518, $23.93), an 'On My Own' biography designed...does a fine job of providing a very basic survey of Truth's life. Older readers in grades 4-6 will appreciate... Read more
Black women protest absence of Sojourner Truth on Hill statue. (statue of suffragettes to be displayed in Capital Rotunda)(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Jet; 4/7/1997; 182 words ; ...Women, protested that the statue did not recognize Sojourner Truth, an early Black woman activist. She wanted an image...intended to be part of the statue. Her group agreed that Sojourner Truth had made contributions. Truth addressed the equal... Read more
Abolitionist Sojourner Truth to be honored in the Capitol.(NATIONAL REPORT)(Brief article)
Magazine article from: Jet; 3/5/2007; 272 words ; ...Clinton recently paid tribute to Sojourner Truth, and herald the likelihood that...Capitol. This is historic because Sojourner Truth is that symbolic person, said...first Black woman to be honored. Sojourner Truth lived much of her life in New... Read more
Confidential: continuing a seven-year effort to add Sojourner Truth to the Women's Suffrage statue in the Capitol Rotunda, C. Delores Tucker lined up her National Congress of Black Women and the National Council of Women (NOW) for another round of protests for the change.(Ticker Tape)
Magazine article from: Jet; 3/22/2004; ; 56 words ; Confidential: Continuing a seven-year effort to add Sojourner Truth to the Women's Suffrage statue in the Capitol Rotunda...of protests for the change. Says Tucker: Either put Truth on the original statue or remove it from the rotunda... Read more
A towering legacy of achievement.(Humor)(Sojourners)
Magazine article from: Sojourners Magazine; 1/1/2004; ; 700+ words ; As I begin my 30th year at Sojourners, it seems appropriate to take...its desperate need for gospel truth. (For some reason, Ms. Sinatra...incorporated into the broader Sojourners mission.) Taking nothing away...as well, since our prophetic truth-telling has never been more... Read more

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