WHP
Sojourner Truth Dies
Preacher, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan on November 26, 1883.
The date of Truth's birth is uncertain, but around 1797 she was born a slave called "Isabella" in Ulster, New York. Bought and sold four times, she escaped slavery in 1826 when her owner failed to fulfill his promise to free her before the date mandated by New York law.
Nearly twenty years later, she shed the name, Isabella Van Wagener, and adopted the moniker Sojourner Truth. A prophet and sojourning minister, she spoke out against sin and slavery. Encouraged by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she added the cause of women's rights to her agenda. Today, Truth is most famous for her speech "Ain't I A Woman." She attacked the idea of the "weaker sex."