“If women want more rights than they got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it.” Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was a brave, outspoken abolitionist who escaped slavery with her infant daughter and successfully sued her young son’s owner to gain his freedom.
Growing up in Slavery and Winning Her Family’s Freedom
Isabella Baumfree (she later changed her name to Sojourner Truth) was born in around 1800 in a Dutch-speaking area of upstate New York. Her first language was Dutch and though she eventually learned English, she always spoke with a Dutch accent.
Throughout her early life, she was bought and sold several times as a slave, eventually becoming the property of John Dumont, who raped her repeatedly and with whom she had one child. While she was still enslaved, she met and fell in love with an older enslaved man named Thomas with whom she had more children.
New York state began slowly moving toward emancipation in the 1820s and it was then that Sojourner escaped with her infant daughter, who had been born free. Sojourner and her daughter took refuge with an abolitionist family. When slavery was officially outlawed in New York in 1827, she went back to her former owner’s home to get her other children. When she arrived, her five-year-old son was gone. He had been illegally sold and was now enslaved in Alabama, where slavery was still legal.
Sojourner was not deterred. With help from several prominent abolitionists, she sued her son’s new owner for illegally purchasing him and demanded that he be released and returned to her. Despite the overwhelming odds against her, she won the case, ensuring his freedom and becoming the first Black woman to do so in court.
Boldly Advocating for Emancipation and Women’s Rights
Inspired and empowered by her triumph, Sojourner began traveling across the country with other abolitionists, sharing her experience. Throughout the 1840s, she joined abolitionists groups that not only advocated for emancipation but also for women’s rights, religious tolerance and pacifism.
In the 1850s, she spoke at the first National Womens’ Rights Convention in Massachusetts, and at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention, where she gave her most famous, and often misquoted, speech advocating for equal rights for all women, including African Americans.
The speech, now known as “Ain’t I A Woman?,” was rewritten in print form in a dialect to make her sound like a Southerner, instead of her speaking with a Dutch accent, and contained many errors, including the number of children she had. But the underlying message remained the same in print as it did for those who were fortunate enough to hear her give the speech in person—abolish slavery and give women equal rights, including Black women.
In a more accurate written version of the speech, she is quoted as saying:
“I have heard much about the sexes being equal. I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if a woman has a pint, and a man a quart – why can't she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, for we can't take more than our pint will hold.”
During the American Civil War in the 1860s, she helped to recruit black troops for the Union Army. In fact, her own grandson fought with the Union. And in 1864, she was invited to the White House by President Abraham Lincoln. She, along with other women and prominent abolitionists, met with President Lincoln and shared their views on the ongoing issues of slavery and equal rights.
Continuing to Pursue Justice After the Civil War
In 1870, she traveled again to Washington, D.C. to advocate for federal land grants for formerly enslaved people and while she was there, she met with U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, with whom she developed a rapport. She later campaigned for his reelection and even tried to vote for him, though she was denied.
In 1871, she gave another famous speech at the Second Annual Convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association where she argued how important it was to center women in our society, “For the benefit of the whole creation, not only the women, but all the men on the face of the earth, for they were the mother of them.”
Eventually, she settled in Michigan, where two of her daughters cared for her until her death.
When she died at the age of 85, more than 1,000 people attended her funeral.
In his eulogy for Sojourner Truth in Washington, D.C., Frederick Douglas summed it up best when he described her as, “Venerable for age, distinguished for insight into human nature, remarkable for her independence and courageous self-assertion, devoted to the welfare of her race, she has been for the last forty years an object of respect and admiration to social reformers everywhere.”
In 2009, Sojourner Truth became the first Black woman to be honored with a statue in the Capitol building when a bust of her was installed in Emancipation Hall in Washington, D.C.
It takes remarkable courage to take bold, decisive actions and fight for your rights despite societal misconceptions about your abilities. You are often discredited and must work twice as hard for half as much. This has been true for women and people of color in this country for centuries. And yet, without women, the human race would not exist.
At Strong Female, we’re telling the stories of unsung heroines, bringing light to their challenges and how they overcame them. Women like Sojourner Truth, who pushed the boundaries of convention and blazed a trail of equality and achievement for not only the women of their generation but for generations to come. We’re also supporting nonprofits that help women from underserved communities. When you purchase from Our Shop, 100% of the profits go to our campaign for a nonprofit that is helping women learn, grow and thrive.