SOJOURNER TRUTH 1797-1883

1852 Akron,Ohio,America in a church where a Convention for women rights was held  some have traveled hundreds of miles  to listen or to speak  on this burning issue. a few blacks  are sprinkled  among this mainly  white gathering, there were men present too  who were allowed to speak for or against  the motion, but black women  attended for they dared not address a white crowd.

Perhaps because it was a church, several white ministers took to the pulpit and denounce equality for women.

The appearance of Sojourner Truth, a silent black figure in this convention unsettles some of the participants and they beg Frances Gage the organizer, not to let her speak. Her reputation preceded her there was a growing  fear among  women’s rights group that their  cause could  be damaged by closing ranks with the abolitionist, whose agenda was to end slavery. Frances Gage was undecided and Sojourner had not yet asked to speak. During the conference break Sojourner had distributed copies of her book The Narrative of Sojourner, but it was not till the second day after many speakers had given their opinions that she made her way to she approached the lectern.

Sojourner Truth speaks;

Why, I feel so pleased t’day,I feel pleased t’day,I cause I’s in a place where I feel safe. Old Sojourner‘s right here in Gods pulpit and I’s goin ’to speak the truth as I knows it. I must confess I aint so pleased to hear what I have been hearin’at this convention, ‘cause we all know that we live in Christian Nation. Yeah-America is a Christian Nation, but I had to spend the first 30years of my life under every sufferin ’that all you good people can think of at the hands of white Christian me, and when the good Lord gat me out of it-why I seen dogs in New York being petted and treated better than slaves .Anyways, if I talk  too much about myself you good people aint goin’t’ need to buy my book. Yes sir. Thank the Lord Old Sojourner gonna need every penny she can get to keep doin’ the lords work, and this voice of mine’s gonna ring like a bell-up and down America-till we all git the freedoms  that’s ours by right.

Cause the teachin ’of Christ was about liberation. Why-he said in Isaiah, I come to free those  who’s bound up in prison and to loose the binds of captives and I was taught by my mama as a child to pray to God for whatever I wanted, so I prayed to be free. I was born a slave I been sold over and over to different masters. I been beaten within an inch of death with hot iron rods, but I kept that faith my mama give me and I stand before you now today a free woman. Thank the Lord

So I know that captive look, even if it ain’t gat chains on it .I know that deep down hurtin’ feelin’ I seen on the face of so many women black and white. Cause when it come down to it oppression ain’t got no color. It’s just that white men have made a great art out of it.

Now this preacher done told us that women’s got less intelligence than men. Well Ole Sojourner gonna put that lie to rest. Cause I done writ a book-and the good Lord knows I’s illiterate. I din never learn to read nor write but I know what’s in the bible he preachin from, Aint he never heard about Deborah-a woman who was one of the first  prophets in Israel, Why she judged the people when there weren’t no kings in Israel. And how she gonna be chief judge and ruler if she aint intelligent? That’s in the book of Judges. And who ain’t heard of about Esther a great woman who done turned the evil judgment on her people upside down and took them right outa bondage. That’s in the book of Esther. And there were great Queens  in history like Nefertiti who was  blacker than I am  and led a  great and mighty nation and how she goin’ t’ rule a mighty  nation  if she don’t have intelligence in the nappy hair under her crown? hats the book of history. Yes sir Thank the Lord

Preacher, he go on t’ say women’s weaker than men (maybe white women) but aren’t I a woman? Aren’t I a woman look at me? Look at ma arm. Why, I have ploughed and planted and gathered into barns and no man could head me .And I aren’t I a woman?

Aint no man opened doors for me or helped me into carriages or walked a ten-mile that I couldn’t keep up with’m. So I am sayin’sisters-half of what them preachers is sayn’ is wrong and the other half ain’t worth listenin’ to. We’s got to speak out against it but we’s also got to keep proving our case.

When they took my son Peter and sold him to a southern slave –owner in Alabama-I was sore distressed, as any mother would be, but the Lord said to me Isabella (that was my name back then)-he say Isabella, don’t just sit there sorrowing, git up and git your son back, he is yours ‘n-ain’t no-one got the right to take him away. And I got up and fought a legal fight in the courts of America, and Lord GIVE ME BACK MY SON, Peter.

I’s gonna leave you with one last thought. Cause the preacher-he says Eve was the mother of all temptation and she done caused the all men to fall. Aint that somethin’?if the first woman God created was strong enough to turn the world upside down-all alone-these here together ought to be able to turn it back and git it right side up again. Now ole Sojourner ain’t got nothin’ more to say. God bless you all.

The convention erupted with applause Sojourner Truth a fearless and outspoken campaigner for black liberty, had scored another victory, she believed that the minds of white men could be challenged and changed by powerful arguments and positive actions, she overcame the impossible odds of history and circumstance to emerge as the leading anti slavery and women’s rights spokeswoman of her time-and one of the greatest public speakers in American history.

Her espousal of the women’s rights campaign came as a direct result of the injustices she had suffered as a slave. Her life fulfilled a mission. She leaves us a legacy of an outstanding role-model who linked two great human rights’ movements in a crusade for true liberation.