Truth, Sojourner (c. 1797-1883)

Sojourner Truth (whose birth name was Isabella) was born a black slave in Ulster County, New York, to her enslaved parents, James and Elizabeth. During her enslavement, she was owned by several white families, including the Hardenbergh family, at birth, and several other New York families, Neely, Shriver, and Dumont, to whom she was later resold. Isabella's experiences with physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her slave master and mistress became the basis of her opposition to slavery and her later work on behalf of abolitionism. She became emancipated in 1826 and eventually took on the last name of an abolitionist family, Van Wagenen, with whom she lived and worked as a freed person. Her experiences as a slave, her emancipation, and the eventual spiritual rebirth that resulted from her activism in Methodist movements led to her transformation into renowned the preacher, and abolitionist. She took on the name “Sojourner Truth,” which appropriately describes the significance of her work during the 19th century, as a preacher of truth wherever she went.