Sojourner Truth was one of the most amazing figures in United States history, female or otherwise. It is common to frame her story in terms of her status as a woman, particularly a black woman; however, she would have been remarkable regardless. Truth was the original self-made woman, choosing her own name and path in life during a time when people of her race and gender were openly discriminated against. Truth utilized her remarkable talents for evangelistic preaching to encourage both the abolitionist and suffragist movement in the United States.
It is clear, even from her most basic, bare-bones biography, that Truth was an extraordinary individual. She refused to let the social mores or social climate of the time dictate her actions, instead acting in the ways she believed was right, regardless of the hardships that her actions caused her in the long term. After her escape to freedom in the years before the slaves were emancipated in New York, she became active in the Methodist community. “The Spirit calls me,” she told her friends and the people in her life, “and I must go” (Painter). And go she did: after converting to the Methodist faith, Truth abandoned her given name and began to travel the American countryside, preaching about the abolitionist and suffragist movements (Painter).
During her time as a Methodist evangelist, Truth became acquainted with many important figures in the abolitionist and suffragist movements, including Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote her biography for the Atlantic Monthly, and Frederick Douglass, who discussed the issues of both movements at length with Truth (Painter).
Truth was gifted with an amazing ability to speak to crowds. She was incredibly charismatic, and delivered a series of speeches during her time as an evangelist that are still remembered today. Some historians consider her to be a public speaker on par with John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr; it’s hard to say for sure, because no recordings exist of her speeches, but history still remembers the ability that she had to speak publicly about issues and garner support where there may have been none before (Painter).
Truth was unapologetic in her search for freedom and equality, and tenacious when she believed that something she was doing was right. For instance, Truth left most of her children with her former master so they could work into their twenties, because she believed that this was the right way to repay her master for the money he invested (Biography.com). When she discovered that he illegally sold her son, she determinedly took him to court for the violation and won, something that was entirely unheard of during the climate of the times (Painter). It seems logical, then, that when Truth became part of the abolitionist movement and the woman’s suffrage movement, that she would throw herself into the movement wholeheartedly, and make great strides towards change.
Truth’s most famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” is a remarkable feat of public speaking. Truth was, by and large, uneducated, but she managed to create a speech that was short, to the point, memorable, and perfectly balanced; her gift for evangelism and her ability to move a crowd with words is clearly evident in this speech. “Then that little man in black there,” Truth says to her audience at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851, “he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him” (Fordham.edu). Her appeal to religion and religious fervor was probably one of the most compelling arguments she could have made in support of women’s rights. Indeed, historical sources suggest that she was able to calm crowds and whip them into a frenzy with only a few words.
Sojourner Truth was, by all accounts, an amazing individual. Her participation in the fight to free the slaves in the South and her recruitment efforts for the Civil War were frenzied and important to the movement. In addition, once she was successful in pushing for abolitionism, she did not give up: she quickly shifted her focus from slavery to rights for women.
Sometimes it is difficult to imagine life in the past, such as the era in which Sojourner Truth lived. However, it is important to remember that Truth was not merely shirking the expectations of the entire country of what a black woman who was a freed slave should be doing-- she was paving the way for all the future women to fight for their rights and for justice in their lives. Truth did not live to see women attain the right to vote, but there is no doubt that she played a key role in the eventual success of the suffragist movement.
Works cited
Biography.com. "Sojourner Truth Biography." n.d.. Web. 27 Apr 2013.
Digital.library.upenn.edu. "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth.." n.d.. Web. 27 Apr 2013.
Fordham.edu. "Modern History Sourcebook: Sojourner Truth: ‘Ain't I a Woman?’." 1997. Web. 27 Apr 2013.
Gilbert, Olive and Sojourner Truth. Narrative of sojourner truth. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 2000. Print.
Lkwdpl.org. "Sojourner Truth biography." 2004. Web. 27 Apr 2013.
Painter, Nell Irvin. Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol. NY: W.W. Norton, 1996.
