Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was born a slave in New York in around 1797. She was named Isabella at birth, but she changed her name when she became free—by state law—in 1828. During the 1840s, Truth began lecturing at religious camp meetings on the evils of slavery. In 1850, Truth, who never attained literacy, dictated her life story to Olive Gilbert, a white abolitionist, who published the account as Narrative of Sojourner Truth. During the 1850s, Truth earned a national reputation as an antislavery and women's rights activist and orator. Her fame resulted in a meeting with President Abraham Lincoln in 1864, during which Truth and Lincoln discussed civil rights for the newly freed slaves. In 1878, Gilbert published an updated version of Truth's Narrative. This excerpt from that text captures Truth addressing a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. The episode...