Truth in the GLCEs
4-H.3.0.7
Use case studies or stories to describe the ideas
and actions of individuals involved in the
Underground Railroad in Michigan and the Great
Lakes region.
4-H.3.0.9
Create timelines to sequence and describe
important events in Michigan history; annotate with
connections to the past and impact on the future.
Truth in the GLCEs
8-U4.3.2
Describe the formation and development
of the abolitionist movement by considering the roles of
key abolitionist leaders (e.g., John Brown and the armed
resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground
Railroad, Sojourner Truth, William Lloyd Garrison, and
Frederick Douglass), and the response of southerners and
northerners to the abolitionist movement.
8-U4.3.3 (women’s rights movement); 8-U4.3.5 (role of
religion in shaping antebellum reform movements);
8-U5.1.5 (resistance of enslaved people); 8-U5.2.4 (role of
African Americans in the Civil War); 8-U5.3.2 (early
responses to the end of the Civil War)
Life as Isabella
She was born enslaved in New York in 1797 as
“Isabella Baumfree”. She had 12 brothers and
sisters. As a child, she spoke only Dutch.

She was sold several times. At age 9,
she was sold for $100, along with a
herd of sheep. She was sold again
at age 11 for $105, and again at
age 13 for $175.

Life as Isabella
Isabella’s first daughter, Diana,
was born in 1815.

She was forced to marry
an older man named Thomas.
They had five children together:
Peter, James, Elizabeth, Sophia,
and an infant who died as a baby.

Life as Isabella
1826 was an important year in
Isabella’s life. It was the year she
“walked” away from slavery.
She wandered until she found the
home of a religious family who paid
her former owner $20 for Isabella.
She worked in their home.
When she found out that her former owner illegally sold
her son Peter to slavery in Alabama, she sued him and won.
Isabella becomes Sojourner Truth
In 1843, “Isabella Baumfree” changed her name to
Sojourner Truth after a religious encounter.
She became a popular speaker among
abolitionists and women’s rights groups.
In 1851, she delivered her famous “Aren’t I a Woman”
speech at the Ohio Women’s Convention in
Akron, Ohio.
Truth’s Courage

She moved to Harmonia Village, Michigan in 1856 and continued to speak
out for the rights of people of color
and women, although she split
with white suffragists over the issue
of voting rights for blacks.

She challenged the street car
discrimination laws in DC…and
won the case!

During the Civil War, her grandson
James Caldwell enlisted in the
54th Regiment of the Civil War.
She worked with the government to ensure
that black soldiers were treated fairly.
Truth and the Civil War


Truth met President Lincoln at the White
House in 1864. He signed her Bible.
She also met President Grant
at the White House.
Truth as an Activist


After the Civil War, Truth
moved to D.C. to help Blacks
adjust to their newfound
freedom.
She also wanted a
land distribution program
for the formerly enslaved.
She hoped the government
would reserve land in the
“New West” for people of
color. Congress would not
enact such a program.
Truth as an Activist
Truth preached from this pulpit.
Truth as an Activist
Truth in Michigan
Sojourner Truth arrived in Battle Creek in 1856 at this train depot.
Truth in Michigan
Downtown Battle Creek, circa 1850s and 1860s
Truth in Michigan
Downtown Battle Creek, circa 1870s
Truth in Michigan
Quaker Meeting House, built in 1871
Truth in Michigan
Truth’s Family
In the 1860 census, her household includes:
Sojourner Truth
Her daughter Elizabeth
Two grandsons Sammie (age 8) and James (age 16)
1870 census, her household includes:
Sojourner Truth
Her daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law William Boyd
Two grandsons William Boyd, Jr. (age 8) and Sammie (age 19)
Her daughter Diana Corbin and son-in-law Jacob Corbin
Grandson Frank (age 9)
Truth’s Family
Diana Corbin, Sojourner Truth’s Daughter
Truth’s Latter Years
Truth’s only known remaining piece of handwriting.
She did not know how to read or write. This is an
1880 autograph she wrote in a book.
Truth’s Latter Years
Sojourner Truth died on November 26, 1883. Her funeral was held
at this Congregational Church in Battle Creek.
Truth Remembered
Sojourner Truth is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek next
to two of her daughters and two of her grandsons.
Truth Remembered
Sojourner Truth lived with a white religious family
in this home in Massachusetts.
Truth Remembered
.
Truth Remembered
.
Truth Remembered
A commemorative postage stamp was issued in 1986
A Mars probe was named for her in 1997
Truth Remembered
Truth Remembered
The Sojourner Truth Memorial Highway runs along
M-66 near Battle Creek
In Truth’s Words
“I feel that if I have to answer for the deeds done
in my body just as much as a man, I have a right to
have just as much as a man.”
“If colored men get their rights, and not colored
women theirs, you see the colored men will be
masters over the women, and it will be just as bad
as it was before.”
“I have been forty years a slave and forty years
free, and would be here forty years more to have
equal rights for all.”
“We do as much, we eat as much, we want as
much.”
“I can’t read words, but I can read people.”
For Additional Information
Sojourner Truth Institute
http://www.sojournertruth.org/
Online Narrative of Sojourner Truth
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html
Sojourner Truth Memorial Project
http://www.sojournertruthmemorial.org/
PBS People of Faith: Sojourner Truth
http://www.pbs.org/thisfarbyfaith/people/sojourner_truth.html
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irving Painter © 1997