Sister Essay

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was one of the several children some say around 10 or 12. She was born to slaves James Baumfree and Elizebeth who named her Isabella Baumfree. Her parents were owned by a man named Colonel Hardenbergh. Sojourner was born a slave. After her owners died, Sojourner was sold off at an auction along with a flock of sheep in 1806. She was only at the age of nine when she was sold to her new owner John Neely who was a very cruel man. She was sold off a couple more times before she became property of John Dumont in 1810. Dumont was kind to his slaves but his wife was very cruel and made their live miserable.

Later on in life the work on legislation to put an end to slavery had started by 1799 in the state of New York, although the legal proceeding for emancipating all the slaves was completed only by July 1827. Sojourner escaped for freedom with her daughter but had to leave her other children behind because they couldn’t be legally freed. She found work at the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagener, and lived there until the approval of the New York state Emancipation Act in 1827. Sojourner’s five-year-old son had been illegally sold off by Dumont after the passing of the law that freed all slaves. When she went back for her son she learned that he was being beat by his previous owner. She took his owner to court and won the case after months of long-lasting legal proceedings, she became the first black women to win a case against a white man.

Sojourner Truth became Christian and moved with Peter to New York City where she found work housekeeping for a Christian preacher, Elijah Pierson, and worked for him until his death. In 1843 she has a spiritual experience and took after the name “Sojourner Truth”. She then began traveling and gave speeches about abolition of slavery. She joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1844. She was not educated, couldn’t read or write so she dictated...