The Search for Truth

Well Sojourner Truth anyway.  With all the recent hub bub lately, my mom wanted to go see the gravesite of Sojourner Truth.  As we were heading to the graveyard, we saw a memorial to her.

 Sojourner Truth was born sometime in 1797 as Isabella Baumfree.  Her parents were John and Isabella Baumfree and they were slaves owned by a Colonel Hardenbergh in Swartekill, New York which is about 95 miles north of New York City.  In 1815, Sojourner fell in love with a slave that was owned by another man.  That owner forbade their love because any babies that might emerge from that relationship would not be owned by him.    Sojourner eventually married another man and had five children with him.

 In 1799, the State of New York started to free the slaves there, however that process would not be complete until 1827.  Her owner promised her freedom before that but reneged on the deal.  In 1826, she decided to escape with her daughter (the other children would prove difficult to escape with).  She made it to the house of another person, who ended up buying her services until the end of the year.  She found out that one of her sons was sold to a man in Alabama (but illegally).  She took the issue to court and won.  She would become the first black woman to win a case like that against a white man.

 In 1843, she would become a Methodist and would campaign for abolition.  In 1857, she moved to Battle Creek, MI where she would meet up with other abolitionists.  During the Civil War, she would help recruit black men for the Union.  She would later speak about women's rights, prison rights and she preached against the Michigan legislature against capital punishment.  She would also try to get land grants for former slaves.

She died on November 26, 1883 at her home in Battle Creek.  She would be buried Oak Hill Cemetery there.