Sojourner Truth Speeches

Sojourner Truth was a major activist of the abolitionist movement. She was born into slavery in Ulser County New York to James and Betsey as Isabella Baumfree. It is estimated that she was born in between 1790 and 1800. Her life story helps illustrate why her passion and steed ruminated throughout the abolitionist movement. For once, the African American slave woman could share her thoughts, ideas, experiences and hurts about slavery. Her upbringing and experiences as a slave contributed to many of her great speeches and writings, which helped bring awareness to the monster known as slavery.

Sojourner Truth was the last of the Baumfree children and by the time of her birth her parents were fairly old.. Their family spoke Dutch as a result

Slaves, no matter their sex, all slept together in the same apartment area. Isabella recalls that there were only three reflecting rays of light that passed through to the cellar. The ground consisted of dirt and muddy water, which gave off a horrible smell when combined with multiple human bodies and their bodily fluids. She recalls them sleeping on damp boards in the cellar as if they were horses. Slave master’s used these techniques to crush the spirits of slaves and henceforth cause obedience. Although it is said that slaves were forced to practice Christianity in hopes that it would cause them to be obedient to their masters; Some slaves used Christianity and religion to help them through their rough times. Isabella’s mother, specifically, used the Lord’s Prayer and Psalms to get through the ailments of life and Isabella carried the prayers of her mother into her own

In her opinion, white preachers had no idea of how to preach about such trials. Truth was one of America’s first black women to tackle intersectionality before the proper term was even coined more that 100 years later. She challenged, not only white supremacy and slavery as a whole but she also challenged all male abolitionists, white or black. Awareness of the plight of the Black woman was necessary and through Truth’s love for Jesus Christ and her on-fire preaching, she was also able to sprinkle in her intolerance for slavery. Not only did Sojourner Truth forge her way through the abolitionist movement but she also impacted the feminist movement as well. She claimed that the feminist movements in America marginalized Black women and at a women’s suffrage convention, she asked, “Aren’t I a