SOURCE: “Storyteller and Songstress,” in Sojourner Truth as Orator: Wit, Story, and Song, Greenwood Press, 1997, pp. 51-87.

In the following excerpt, Fitch and Mandziuk examine Truth's narrative discourses in the context of major rhetorical concepts.

Any understanding of the rhetorical power of Sojourner Truth must begin with an appreciation of her tremendous appeal and the hold that she commanded over audiences. For example, the report in the National Anti-Slavery Standard of her 1863 speech to the State Sabbath School Convention in Battle Creek, Michigan, provided an impressive indication of her power and popularity:

Rev. T. W. Jones arose, and addressing the moderator, said that the speaker was “Sojourner Truth”. This was enough: five hundred persons were instantly on their feet, prepared to give the most earnest and respectful attention to her who was once but a slave. Had Henry Ward Beecher, or any other such renowned man's name been...