Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist, fight to end slavery, and women’s rights activist. She was a born into slavery in 1797. Truth escaped slavery to freedom 1826. She is known for her legendary speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?.” Sojourner Truth’s legacy is that of a former slave, who is now nationally known for being a feminist and and advocate for social reform.
Sojourner Truth, whose birth name was Isabella Baumfree and called Belle, was born into slavery in 1797. She was born in Swartekill, Ulster County, New York. In 1806, at the age of nine, she, alone, was sold to another slave owner, John Neely, after the death Charles Hardenbergh, who initially owned Truth and her family. Unfortunantly, she was sold approximately three more times. In 1815, she met and fell in love with a slave named Robert, who belonged to another slave owner, and he forbid them to wed because he didn’t own her and could not own their children, if they had any. When Robert’s owner caught him visiting Truth, he was taken away and she never saw him again. She later married …show more content…
Sadly, she had to leave her other children behind because they could not be freed in the emancipation order until they had been servants well within their twenties. After being freed, she became a devote Christian, saying that she had been called by the spirits and in 1843 is when she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. This is when her journey began as an abolisonist and women’s rights activist. She delivered her legendary speech “Ain’t I a Woman” in May of 1951 at an Ohio Womens’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Decades after this speech, she contiuned her journey as an abolisionist, women’s activist and even recruited black troops for the Union Army during the Civil