Sojourner Truth Essay

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Sojourner Truth was a Civil Rights Activist, and a Women’s Rights Activist 1797-1883. Sojourner Truth was known for spontaneous speech on racial equal opportunities. Her speech “Aint I a Women? “Was given to an Ohio Women’s Rights convention in 1851. Sojourner Truth’s was a slave in New York, where she was born and raised and was sold into slavery at an early age (bio, 2016)
In the 19th century, Sojourner Truth was one of the most influential African American women in history. Truth bought a house and settled in Northampton, Massachusetts. Afterwards, she traveled the east and Midwest spreading her beliefs on human rights. As an influential and fervent supporter for the evicted; she had a strong mind and confident spirit to fight for human …show more content…

In 1829, Truth and son Peter moved to New York City, and converted to Christianity. She worked for Elijah Pierson, he was a Christian evangelist. Soon after she went to work for Robert Matthews, as a maid. Matthews was known as a con man and a cult leader. Soon after Truth left the Pierson household Mr. Pierson died. Mr. Matthews was suspected of poisoning Pierson for his money. There was a couple named Folgers that were a member of his cult that tried to accuse Truth of the crime. Matthews from the lack of sufficient evidence was acquitted of the charges. Afterwards Truth sued the Folgers for slander and won (bio, …show more content…

There were close to 3,000 thousand people at the unveiling of the monument. The state has declared September 25th as Sojourner Truth Day. The monument represents to the people the legacy of Sojourner and how she stood for dignity, respect, and freedom for all, until her death she wanted freedom and impartiality for everyone (sojournertruth.org, nd)
Sojourner worked hard to relocate former slaves in the western states. She urged the government to give the ex-slaves free land and give them money to travel to their new homes. Washington D.C., had an influx of former slaves, and freedmen seeking jobs, and safety. They had no place to live, had little food to eat. Sojourner worked diligently at freedman Village to help them to get living accommodations (Butler, nd).
In 1971, the State University of New York at New Paltz was dedicated to Sojourner Truth. The library is name after her, it may seem strange that a woman that could not read or write would have a library name after her. Sojourner was a great speaker for human rights, and one of the greatest activist that came from Ulster County. Sojourner often told people “I can 't read books, but I can read the people” (Nyquist,

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