Sojourner Truth Struggles

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Isabella was one of the most influential and courageous slaves born and known in the United States. Many do not know her by her birth name, but rather as her freed name of “Sojourner Truth”. Truth was a significant figure in human rights, such as women’s suffrage, and the abolishment of slavery during the 19th century in America. Her actions could be seen as one of the best attempts by an ex-slave at breaking the grip of oppression over slaves and women. Truth’s importance to American history is ground breaking and with her background of being a slave and as an oppressed woman, only intensified her involvement and lead to some surprising, yet successful attempts. Although only the good outcomes are mentioned, Sojourner faced numerous hardships from difficult confrontations of activists to disgust from the observers.
Truth was born into slavery and raised in New York by her mother, Betsey and father, James. As mentioned earlier, her name was changed once she became free in 1826, to signify her wanting to travel and become a preacher. With her testimonies of “demeaning nature of slavery and the redeeming power of faith,” her words touched numerous listeners and jumpstarted her mission from God . Sojourner’s name was a symbol of justice to show the world the “truth” behind what was really going on in the nation. However, she was illiterate; but it proved not to be a stumbling block for her courageous acts to come. She became a “national figure in the struggle for the liberation of both blacks and women,” by attending countless tours spreading the word of inequality and injustice. One of her first and most successful attempts at black equality was the approval of African Americans to enter into the Union Army to fight. Her act of...

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...e been the sole reason to the changes that took place in the nation, but she will be viewed as a spark that ignited the fire. Battle Creek is an excellent memorial that pays honor to such a strong-minded woman or what they call a “remarkable woman.”
Sojourner Truth/Isabella is an outstanding woman that never took no for an answer. Without her contributions of tours, lawsuits, and speeches on women’s suffrage, the world today may be a totally different place. Yes, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were also working on the issue of women’s suffrage, but Truth seemed to get the idea going a little further with African American women having the same voting rights as the whites would eventually have. The few fearless actions of Sojourner Truth mentioned above, only skim the surface of her selflessness and perseverance that shaped America as it is known today.

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