Sojourner Truth

Early Life Sojourner Truth was born Isabelle Baumfree to a slave family in 1797 in Ulster County, New York. She was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist.

Adulthood 3. In 1826 she escaped slavery with her baby. 4. Began preaching in Methodist churches in 1829.

5. In her “Ain’t I a Women” speech, December 1851, she declared that, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back…”

6. She spoke for the Union during the Civil War. 7. She met with President Lincoln in October 1864.

8. She also spoke out against drinking and capital punishment. 9. She was the first black woman to have a bust on display in the U.S. Capital.

Death 10. She died on November 26, 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Sources www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/trut-soj.htm (secondary source) “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech from www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp (primary source)