CYOA #6- Sojourner Truth Biography
Sojourner Truth was named Isabella Baumfree born, slave of the Hardenburgh's, in New York in 1792. Do to the fact she was born into a slave no one knew her actual birth date. Many slaves back then did not have close records of when they were born. Colonel Hardenburgh bought her parents, James and Elizabeth Baumfree, and kept their family on their land until he past away then they became Colonel son, Charles, property. In 1806 at the age of nine, she and the other nine or eleven of her siblings were sold off to other plantations. She was sold to John Neely at an auction for one hundred dollars and a flock of sheep since her previous owner was deceased. During this time she was terribly beaten many times do to many misunderstandings since they spoke different languages. Isabella spoke dutch while Neely and his family spoke english. Two years later she was sold again for one hundred and five dollars to Martinus Schryver then again to John Dumont in 1810.
Several different men owned Isabella at various times until she fled her property one day to secure her own freedom. Isabella worked for about sixteen years under Dumont's rules. During this time she had fell in love with a man named Robert from a near by plantation. Catton, Robert's master, refused the relationship because he wouldn't own the children if they had any. Robert was later caught by Catton and his son sneaking over to see Isabella and was beaten until Dumont had intervened. He then died from the injuries and the experience taunted Isabella throughout the rest of her life. Isabella eventually married another slave named Thomas. She gave birth to three girls and two boys. Her firstborn, James, died during infancy or childhood. Her second was Diana and she was fathered either by John or Robert Dumont. Peter, Elizabeth, and Sophia were all born after her and Thomas united. Promised by Dumont that she would be freed in 1826, but he failed to do so. When she was twenty nine years of age she fled with her infant daughter Sophia. Forced by the emancipation order she had to leave her other children because they weren't legally freed until their twenties. She found her way to Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen's home and they took her and Sophia in. They also provided the two with shelter and protection. They stayed there until the New York State Emancipation Act was approved.
Moreover, Isabella later learned her five year old son, Peter, was sold illegally by Dumont. She took the complication to court in 1828 with the help of the Van Wagenens. After several months of waiting for legal proceedings she got her son back. He was abused by the people who were enslaving him. She was one of the first black ladies to go up against a white man and win the case. Living with the Wagenens gave Isabella many life changing experiences and she then became a christian. Isabella decided to move back to New York City with Peter in 1829. She worked for a Christian Evangelist his name was Elijah Pierson. Three years later she met a man
named Robert Matthews who was a prophet and did work for him as a housekeeper. She worked at the Matthias Kingdom Communal Colony. When Elijah died Robert and Isabella were accused of stealing and poisoning him. They were both cleared of criminal charges and Robert then moved west. In 1839 Peter took a job called the Zone of Nantucket. They sent each other letters from 1840 to 1841. Unfortunately Peter received none of the letters and Isabella only received three out of five. In 1842 when Peters ship returned he was not found to be on board and she never heard of him again.
Nevertheless, the year of 1843 was a definite turning point for Isabella. She became a member of a Christian Protestant denomination. On June 1, she changed her name from Isabella Baumfree to Sojourner Truth. She left her friends and started to traveling around the country to preach bout the abolition of slavery. Also, Truth started to attend Millerite Adventist camp meetings. After being disappointed with results of the meetings she separated herself and joined the Northapton Association of Education and Industry. They supported woman's rights, religiousness, and pacifism. There were two hundred and forty members, but only one hundred and twenty one at a time. They all lived on forty-seven acres running different mills, animals and a factory. During this time she met Frederick Douglass, David Ruggles and WIlliam Lloyd Garrison. In 1846 the group broke apart.
After meeting many abolitionist she is greatly influenced and becomes one herself in 1846. In 1850 Sojourner Truths friend wrote her autobiography for her since she never learned how to read or write. She then had William Lloyd Garrison privately publish her book. It was called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. There was enough money made from the books sold so a house for three hundred dollars was bought by Sojourner in a village which is now Florence in Northampton. She spoke at the National Women's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. She gave a speech which became famous known as the "Ain't I a Woman".
Furthermore, a friend of hers also helped pay off her house four years later. Sojourner Truth's journey of her career was just starting to begin.
Subsequently, on September 3, 1857, Sojourner sold everything she owned and moved back to Battle Creek and joined back with the members of the Millerite Movement. There she joined many other abolitionist and had been in many national conventions. When the Civil War came around Sojourner Truth helped recruit the black men for the Union Army. Later in 1864 she was employed in Washington D.C. She improved the conditions of the African Americans and later that year she met President Abraham Lincoln. Three years later she started to travel again, first western then all over the east coast. She had many ideas, but some of them didn't always end in success. She spoke about women's rights, prison improvement and also abolition. Some people didn't welcome her speeches or her ways of teaching others. Even though they didn't approve of what she was doing and her actions she had many friends and supporters like Amy Post, Wendall Phillips, and Susan B. Anthony, people whom she collaborated with till the end of her life. She was suffering from great pain before she passed away as some people have said. Sojourner died in her house in Battle Creek, Michigan, November 26, 1883, and was buried next to her family at Oak Hill Cemetery.
Thus to conclude, she is remembered as one of the leaders for many different movements. She started as an abolitionist but also sponsored many different things that were seemed to be problems occurring in the world. Sadly, she wasn't able to see something take action because the Amendment barring suffrage based on discrimination wasn't approved till the 1920s.
