Sojourner Truth
Overview
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree around 1797 in New York. She would become an abolitionist, preacher, and activist who spent decades speaking out against slavery and advocating for women's rights.
Born into slavery under Dutch-speaking enslavers—making English her second language—she was sold multiple times and separated from her family as a child before escaping in 1826 with her infant daughter. Truth later won her son's freedom in court, becoming one of the first Black women to successfully sue a white man. After escaping slavery, she experienced a religious awakening that led her to adopt the name Sojourner Truth and to begin her career as a traveling preacher.
In the 1840s, she became involved in the abolitionist movement. Her 1851 speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, is known for a phrase she most likely did not say: "Ain't I a Woman?" Regardless, the speech helped establish her as a figure who connected racial and gender equality in a way few others did at the time. Although she could neither read nor write, Truth remained one of the most influential leaders in the abolition and women's rights movements until her death in 1883.
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