Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree around 1797 in New York. She would become an abolitionist, preacher, and activist who spent decades speaking out against slavery and advocating for women's rights.
Born into slavery under Dutch-speaking enslavers—making English her second language—she was sold multiple times and separated from her family as a child before escaping in 1826 with her infant daughter. Truth later won her son's freedom in court, becoming one of the first Black women to successfully sue a white man. After escaping slavery, she experienced a religious awakening that led her to adopt the name Sojourner Truth and to begin her career as a traveling preacher.
In the 1840s, she became involved in the abolitionist movement. Her 1851 speech at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, is known for a phrase she most likely did not say: "Ain't I a Woman?" Regardless, the speech helped establish her as a figure who connected racial and gender equality in a way few others did at the time. Although she could neither read nor write, Truth remained one of the most influential leaders in the abolition and women's rights movements until her death in 1883.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
At the 1851 Women's Rights Convention, Truth gave a speech that cemented her legacy, weaving together abolition and women's rights in remarks that became among the most quoted of the 19th century.
There are two versions of Truth's Akron speech: one written shortly after by a white abolitionist, and the other published 12 years later. The later version added a southern dialect and the phrase "Ain't I a Woman?"—raising questions about its authenticity.
Historians have challenged the accepted biography of Truth—questioning whether she actually ever said "Ain't I a Woman?" and arguing that generations of activists have claimed Truth as a symbol at the expense of accurately understanding who she really was.
In October 1864, Truth traveled to Washington and met President Lincoln a week before his reelection, though she could secure the appointment only through a white abolitionist friend. Lincoln signed her autograph book, and Truth later said she had never been treated with more "kindness and cordiality" by anyone.
This podcast traces Truth's life from slavery in New York to her status as an abolitionist icon—covering her daring escape, legal victories, landmark speeches, and lasting impact on racial equality and women's rights.
After her enslaver broke his promise to free her, Truth left before dawn, carrying her infant daughter and a bundle of clothes. She later found refuge with the Van Wagener family, who paid her master $20 for her freedom and $5 for her infant daughter.
When her son Peter was illegally sold into slavery in Alabama, Truth took the matter to court—becoming one of the first Black women to successfully sue a white man and win, and securing her son's return.
Getting Truth's bust into the Capitol took a decade of campaigning by the National Congress of Black Women. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.
Although the women's suffrage movement is often portrayed as a white story, Black women like Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell fought for voting rights—frequently facing racism within the movement itself.
The Northampton Association of Education and Industry was a brief utopian community in Massachusetts that united abolitionists, reformers, and intellectuals. Truth lived and worked alongside William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass; this helped to launch her career as a public speaker and activist.
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