Sojourner Truth

Describe her freedom, her preaching, and her work for abolition and women's rights.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 56

Sojourner Truth was born enslaved in New York around 1797. Her name was Isabella, and her first language was Dutch. She was sold several times as a child.
In 1826, she walked away to freedom, carrying her baby daughter. When her young son was illegally sold south to Alabama, she went to court, and she won him back. That was rare for a Black woman then.
In 1843, she took a new name, Sojourner Truth, because she felt called to travel and speak the truth. She couldn't read or write, but crowds came to hear her.
In 1851, at a women's rights meeting in Ohio, she said she had as much muscle as any man, and could do as much work. A friend who was there printed her words in a newspaper.
Here's a historian's puzzle. A famous version, “Ain't I a Woman?”, was published twelve years later, with Southern-sounding speech. But Truth grew up in New York. Historians trust the earlier report more. Always ask who wrote a source, and when.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS4H4.a — Discuss contributions of and challenges faced by Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman.