By: Reid Petty and Isabelle Cecere

Sojourner Truth (Isabelle Baumfree)

Born Isabella Baumfree in Ulster County, New York (1797)

Harshly abused under several mastersIsabella married an older slave named Thomas

and bore 5 childrenEscaped slavery with her youngest daughter

Sophia (freed by New York emancipation order)Wins law suit to recover son Peter who was

illegally sold into slavery in AlabamaAt age 46, adopts the name Sojourner Truth

Biography

Joins the utopian Northampton Association in Mass., where she meets anti-slavery reformers

Narrative of Sojourner Truth published in 1850Attends women's rights convention in Akron,

Ohio, where she delivers the famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech

Travels all of 1870 speaking against alcohol, slavery, and preaching women’s rights

First woman to vote in a Michigan state electionDies at Battle Creek, Michigan on November

26th, 1883

Biography (Continued)

First wave of Feminism18th through early 20th centuries

Created to work towards social, political, monetary, and artistic equality between men and women

Feminism works to bring down society’s patriarchy (men over women) and reach complete equality

Feminist Movement

Multiple variations of feminism:Liberal

political and legal reform without altering the structure of society

Radical total uprooting and reconstruction of society

Socialconnects oppression of women to exploitation,

oppression, and laborMarxist

overcoming class oppression overcomes gender oppression

Feminist Movement (Continued)

First wave of feminism concerned with right to vote

Representation of the People Act of 1918Granted women over the age of 30 who owned

houses the right to voteIn 1928 this was extended to all women over 21

Nineteenth Amendment granted all women the right to vote

Sojourner Truth greatly affected the change in rights for women

Important Events in Feminist Movement

Movement to end slaveryFirst movement in America by German

QuakersThe Society of Relief of Free Negros Unlawfully

Held in BondageAbolitionists succeed in getting slavery completely

banded in all states North of Ohio RiverImportation of slaves into the United States was

officially banned on January 1, 1808

Abolitionist Movement In America

Vermont became the first jurisdiction in North America to prohibit slavery

Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 1783, that a black man was free under the state’s constitution

1835 alone abolitionists mailed over a million pieces of anti-slavery literature to the South

Many Abolitionists supported the underground railroad

Growing conflict leads to civil war

Abolitionist Movement In America (Continued)

Traveled and spoke out for the rights of slaves and women“Ain’t I a Woman” Speech (for women’s rights)Helped to reveal how cruel slavery could be

(Friends of Human Progress Association meeting)• Employed by the National Freedman's Relief

Association to improve conditions for African-Americans

Contributions of Sojourner Truth

Active helping blacks escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad in Michigan

Helped recruit black troops for the Union Army

Met Abraham Lincoln to challenge the discrimination that segregated street cars by race

After Civil War – Freedman’s Bureau (helps blacks adjust to and protect their new freedoms)

Contributions of Sojourner Truth

African American conditions were improvedAwareness of the cruelty of slavery was

raisedBlacks that were not emancipated were able

to escape to freedomBlacks given right and convinced to join

Union armyBlacks rights were maintained after

emancipationWomen rose to equality with men

Effects of Contributions

Truth, Sojourner. "Ain't I a Woman." Women's Rights Convention. Akron, Ohio, 1851. Speech.

Gilbert, Olive. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Boston: 1850. Print. "Sojourners Years in Battle Creek." Sojourner Truth.org Home Page. Web.

29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sojournertruth.org/History/Biography/BC.htm>. "Black History Month: The Crusade of Sojourner Truth [Mackinac Center]."

Mackinac Center: Advancing Liberty and Prosperity. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.mackinac.org/1649>.

"Sojourner Truth Speeches Menu." Sojourner Truth.org Home Page. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.sojournertruth.org/Library/Speeches/Default.htm>.

"Sojourner Truth Biography." Lakewood Public Library (Lakewood, Ohio). Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/trut-soj.htm>.

"This Far by Faith . Sojourner Truth | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html>.

Bibliography