Emil Ludwig
German writer (1881-1948)
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist who fought for the rights of African Americans and women. She was born into slavery but escaped to freedom, becoming the first Black woman to win a case against a white man. Sojourner Truth is known for her powerful speeches, including the famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” address, and her efforts to secure land grants for formerly enslaved people.
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Sojourner Truthwas an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women’s rights, and alcohol temperance. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
She gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843 after she became convinced that God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside “testifying to the hope that was in her.” Her best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title “Ain’t I a Woman?”, a variation of the original speech that was published in 1863 as being spoken in a stereotypical Black dialect, then more commonly spoken in the South. Sojourner Truth, however, grew up speaking Dutch as her first language.
During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for formerly enslaved people (summarized as the promise of “forty acres and a mule”). She continued to fight on behalf of women and African Americans until her death. As her biographer Nell Irvin Painter wrote, “At a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks.”
A memorial bust of Truth was unveiled in 2009 in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. She is the first African American woman to have a statue in the Capitol building. In 2014, Truth was included in Smithsonian magazine’s list of the “100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.”
Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women’s rights, and alcohol temperance. She was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, and became the first black woman to win a case against a white man in court when she recovered her son in 1828.
Sojourner Truth’s best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’, though it was published in 1863 with a stereotypical Black dialect that she did not actually use.
Sojourner Truth gave herself the name Sojourner Truth in 1843 after she became convinced that God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside ‘testifying to the hope that was in her.’
During the Civil War, Sojourner Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army. After the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for formerly enslaved people, summarized as the promise of ‘forty acres and a mule’.
Sojourner Truth continued to fight on behalf of women and African Americans until her death. In 2009, a memorial bust of her was unveiled in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, making her the first African American woman to have a statue in the Capitol building. In 2014, she was included in Smithsonian magazine’s list of the ‘100 Most Significant Americans of All Time.’
Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
Truth is powerful and it prevails.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
It is the mind that makes the body.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
I am not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.
African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist