Sojourner Truth nee Isabella Van Wagener

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Sojourner Truth nee Isabella Van Wagener was born a slave but became an early role model in the struggle for civil and women's rights during a period in American history when it was not only politically incorrect for black women to do so, but also positively dangerous. The author points out that the fact that Truth and the others dictated their narratives is not unusual; what makes them unusual is the fact that they were written at all. The paper relates that Truth used her enormous oratorical abilities to support three major causes: (1) The abolition of slavery, (2) woman's rights and (3) a failed attempt to relocate the contraband and eventually the freed slaves out of the cities of the east to western lands, where they could practice the only trade they knew, farming. Picture.

Table of Contents
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview
Biographical Details about Sojourner Truth
Impact of Sojourner Truth's Life on American Society
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"According to one of her many biographers, Isabella Van Wagener was born the daughter of slaves; consequently, her early childhood was typified by all of the cruelties and brutalities associated with slavery in the Old South. The first language she learned was Dutch, and she and a fellow slave (named "Thomas) had at least five children together between 1810 and 1827; she was freed by Isaac Van Wagener just before New York state abolished the state's practice of slavery in 1827. Truth, with the assistance of Quaker friends, even managed to recover one of her sons who had been illegally sold into slavery in the South through the courts. The next two years found Truth in New York City where she supported herself and her two youngest children as a domestic worker. Truth's life was to assume a new direction at this point; she had experienced visions and heard voices since childhood, a phenomenon she attributed to God; however, she became associated with Elijah Pierson in New York City and this appears to be the catalyst she needed to take on her new role as an advocate for the newly freed slaves. Truth joined Pierson's Retrenchment Society and eventually his household and preached on the streets of New York City."

More papers on Sojourner Truth nee Isabella Van Wagener:

• Essay # 6976 : "Sojourner Truth"
• Essay # 92420 : "Black Abolitionist Sojourner Truth"
• Essay # 35868 : "Sojourner Truth"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: