Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist, human rights advocate, and extemporaneous speaker. She was born around 1797 and originally named Isabella Baumfree. Roughly 45 years later, she adopted Sojourner Truth as her moniker, which spoke both to her work as a traveling public speaker and the messages she felt that God had called upon her to deliver.
Truth was born into slavery and grew up in New York on a farm owned by Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. She was sold several times as a child and was finally able to escape in 1826 with her infant daughter in tow. She had help from a Quaker couple, Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen, who abhorred slavery and purchased her freedom for $20 — an estimated $650 in today’s dollars — from Truth’s final owner, John Dumont.
In 1828, Truth — under the name Isabella Van Wagenen — sued Dumont for illegally selling her five-year-old son, Peter, to another slaveowner while New York was in the process of abolishing slavery. After a lengthy battle in the New York Supreme Court, Truth won and became the first Black woman to win a United States court case against a white man.
Truth grew up in a Dutch-speaking part of New York; Dutch was her first language, but she also learned to speak English around the age of nine. The speeches she gave as an adult carried the lilt of her Dutch accent. Truth was a powerful speaker and would often incorporate songs, including religious hymns, into her speeches.
As a highly sought-after orator, Truth commanded the stage wherever she went. Not everyone wanted to hear her speak about women’s rights, the rights of Black Americans, and abolishing slavery, and audiences would sometimes be openly hostile toward Truth. Thankfully, she was able to stifle the audience’s anger on more than one occasion by singing. Referencing the Bible in her speeches and songs may have held sway with her fellow religious devotees in the crowd.
Truth’s activism led her to work with other abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. Truth recruited Black soldiers for the Union Army during the Civil War and accepted an invitation to meet with President Lincoln toward the war’s end in 1865.
Despite the vast amount of work that remains regarding the autonomy and safety of Black Americans, abolitionists like Sojourner Truth provided a solid foundation to stand upon and speak to the masses. Juneteenth is a chance to reflect upon the strife and violence that begat its creation. “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” best known as the Black national anthem, reminds us how Truth was able to connect with some of her more boisterous audiences. Though the song was written after her passing in 1883, it hearkens back to her courage and faith and the importance of speaking up for what is right, even when opposition seems to speak louder.
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