Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883) was the self-given name, from 1843, of an American abolitionist born into slavery. (Her original name was Isabella Bomefree, later she changed it to Baumfree; some sources list her name as Isabella Van Wagener.) The year of her birth is uncertain, but is usually taken to be in 1797.

She had five children in slavery, she fled with the youngest one.

She escaped to Canada in 1827; after New York state abolished slavery, she returned there in 1829, working as a domestic servant for over a decade and joining Elijah Pierson in evangelical preaching on street-corners.
Later in life she became a noted speaker for both the Abolitionist movement and the women's rights movement. Truth's most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?," a short but well pointed commentary.

In 1841, she went to Northampton, Massachusetts to join a utopian community, the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. When the association disbanded in 1846, she remained in Florence, Massachusetts, where she worked with a neighbor, Olive Gilbert, to produce a biography in 1850, the Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave.

Sojurner TruthIn 1857, Truth moved to Michigan, where she continued her advocacy. During the American Civil War, she organized collection of supplies for the Union, and moved to Washington, D.C., after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued to work with former slaves. She also met President Abraham Lincoln.

She returned to Michigan in 1867 and died at her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, on November 26, 1883. She is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek. In 1983, she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.

In 1997 the NASA Mars Pathfinder mission's robotic rover was named "Sojourner" after Sojourner Truth.

She was quoted by animal-rights philosopher Peter Singer in Animal Liberation (1975) to support his argument that, if supposedly possessing a higher degree of intelligence does not justify the abuse by one gender or race of another, then it also cannot entitle human beings to exploit non-human animals:
They talk about this thing in the head; what do they call it? ["Intellect," whispered someone nearby.] That's it. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full? (Singer, 1975, taken from Tanner, 1970)

(artilce from: Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia)

More about Sojourner Truth can be found in: The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, written by Olive Gilbert, based on information provided by Sojourner Truth. (1850)

Sojourner Truth, born in about 1797, was a woman of remarkable intelligence despite her illiteracy. Truth had great presence. She was tall, some 5 feet 11 inches. Her voice was low, so low that listeners sometimes termed it masculine, and her singing voice was beautifully powerful. Whenever she spoke in public, she also sang. No one ever forgot the power of Sojourner Truth's singing, just as her wit and originality of phrasing were also memorable.
Sojourner Truth: ex-slave and fiery abolitionist, figure of imposing physique, riveting preacher and spellbinding singer who dazzled listeners with her wit and originality. Straight-talking and unsentimental, Truth became a national symbol for strong black women--indeed, for all strong women. Like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, she is regarded as a radical of immense and enduring influence; yet, unlike them, what is remembered of her consists more of myth than of personality. She was a complex woman who was born into slavery and died a legend. Inspired by religion, Truth transformed herself from a domestic servant named Isabella into an itinerant pentecostal preacher; her words of empowerment have inspired black women and poor people the world over to this day. As an abolitionist and a feminist, Truth defied the notion that slaves were male and women were white, expounding a fact that still bears repeating: among blacks there are women; among women, there are blacks. (Sojourer Truth - Duane Bristow)

MESJ - Mormons for Equality and Social Justice recognizes and honors Sojourner Truth as a voice for human rights, just her name alone should ressonate among Latter-day Saints! Aren't we all sojourners on this earth, and is it not truth what we're after?

Sojourner truth was an indefatigable abolitionist and feminist, delivering her impressively articulate message -often to hostile, jeering audiences.

As you were reading this article, you may have wondered how Sojourner Truth is to be connected with enviromental issues.

JAMES H. CONE, a Briggs Distinguished Professor at Union Theological Seminary and the author of many books on black theology of liberation, including Martin and Malcolm and America, wrote an interesting essay:

WHOSE EARTH IS IT ANYWAY? - Connecting racism with the degradation of the earth is a necessity for the African American community:

- The logic that led to slavery and segregation in the Americas, colonization and Apartheid in Africa, and the rule of white supremacy throughout the world is the same one that leads to the exploitation of animals and the ravaging of nature. It is a mechanistic and instrumental logic that defines everything and everybody in terms of their contribution to the development and defense of white world supremacy. People who fight against white racism but fail to connect it to the degradation of the earth are anti-ecological -- whether they know it or not. People who struggle against environmental degradation but do not incorporate in it a disciplined and sustained fight against white supremacy are racists -- whether they acknowledge it or not. The fight for justice cannot be segregated but must be integrated with the fight for life in all its forms.
- Today ecology is in vogue and many people are talking about our endangered planet. I want to urge us to deepen our conversation by linking the earth's crisis with the crisis in the human family. If it is important to save the habitats of birds and other species, then it is at least equally important to save black lives in the ghettoes and prisons of America. As Gandhi said, "the earth is sufficient for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed."
(from: Whose Earth is it Anyway? by James H. Cone)


Sojourner Truth recognized what many even these days fail to recognize: that the principles of equality and social justice, peace, and certainly ecology, are inseparably connected with each other, as manifested by The Earth Charter.

"The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all peoples a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world. It is an expression of hope and a call to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history."

"Where did your Christ come from?"
"From God and a Woman! Man had nothing to do with him!"
"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 and get it right-side up again. And now that they are asking to do it, the men better let them." - Sojourner Truth

April 2006 - Robert Poort