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Sojourner Truth: Court Case Against A White Man

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Sojourner Truth was a freed slave who took her previous owner to court for illegally selling her son to another owner in Alabama and was the first African American woman to win a court case against a white man. Sojourner Truth originally born as Isabella Baumfree was a slave born in New York approximately around 1797. She was born into the slave holder of Colonel Hardenbergh. The colonel eventually passed away and Truth was eventually sold to a man named John Dumont. Truth eventually fell in love with a slave from a different farm and had a daughter together. Dumont forbid this type of affair to occur causing their relationship to come to an end. Dumont convinced Truth to marry one of his older slaves Thomas where they had two daughters and one son. …show more content…
Her older kids had to stay behind and her son was sold to another slave owner in Alabama. This had been an illegal trade and Truth ended up finding out about what her old slave owner did to her son. She took her old slave owner to court for illegally selling her son and she won the court case. This was the first time a black woman had ever won against a white man in a court case. After this occurred she moved to New York where she would stand on corners and preach and practiced her religion. It wasn’t until 1843 that she officially devoted her life to Methodism and the abolition of slavery. She joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry of Northampton Massachusetts. She started to become very well known and the even published her memoir “The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave”. Sojourner gave a speech at the first National Woman’s Rights Convention. She also began touring with another abolitionist speaking to large crowds on human rights and

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