Sojourner Truth (originally named Isabella) was born into slavery in Hurley, New York in 1797, and became an abolitionist and advocate of women's rights. She was freed when New York State emancipated slaves in 1828. Truth heard voices she believed to be God's, and when she arrived in New York City in 1829, she began preaching in the streets. In 1843, she came into contact with the abolitionist movement, which she enthusiastically embraced, and for the next few years she toured the country speaking on its behalf.
 

Encountering the women's rights movement in 1850, she also added its causes to hers. During the American Civil War she solicited gifts for black volunteer regiments, and President Abraham Lincoln received her in the White House in 1864; she later advocated a "Negro State" in the West. Sojourner Truth continued to stump the country on speaking tours until 1875. An illiterate all her life, she was nevertheless an effective speaker and was endowed with a charisma that often drew large crowds to her informal lectures. © 2000-2002, ArtemisPress: a division of SRS Internet Publishing #06610736