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Walking to Freedom
Dumont had reneged on a deal he had made to free Sojourner Truth, so she finished the work she felt obligated to complete and fled to the nearby abolitionist Van Wagener's home. She had to leave several of her children behind and was only able to bring her infant.
During slavery they would often use children as leverage over the enslaved, so the women specifically would be less likely to leave. Truth leaving to ensure her own freedom was considered brave for a Black woman at that time. -
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First Black Woman to Sue and Win a Case Against A White Man
Sojourner Truth's 5 year old son Peter was illegally sold by their slaver to another man in Alabama. Truth filed a case in the court with the help of Van Wageners to get her son back. She won the case and her son was returned back to her. She was the first Black woman in history to successfully win a case against a white man.
This is significant because as a Black woman a victory such as this at a time where she was barely a free from enslavement could have been seen as nearly as impossible. -
Ain't I A Woman
This was the name of the speech she gave at the 1851 Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. In her speech she highlights that Black women are not treated nor seen as women like their white counter parts. She gave this speech pointing out the inequalities not only between race, but also gender. By acknowledging the difference in treatment of Black women and white women showed the intersectionality of embedded within women's rights. -
An Invitation to From President Abraham Lincoln
Truth assisted in the recruitment of Black men to the Union army during the Civil War. She also worked with the National Freedman's Relief Association, aided in the donations of food and clothes, and assisted in any other supplies the Black people who fled north needed. Even after the war ended she continued to help the newly freed people. All of her work caught the attention of President Lincoln. This would have been a significant accomplishment for a man at this time, let alone a Black woman. -
References
Halsall, P. (2020). Sojourner Truth: "Ain't I a Woman", December 1851. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/sojtruth-woman.asp History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Sojourner Truth. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sojourner-truth Michals, E. (2015). Sojourner Truth. Retrieved September 14, 2020, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth