She was born Isabella Baumfree in Swaterkill, NY around 1797 in Ulster County. She was one of twelve children born to James and Elizabeth (Betsey) Baumfree. Her father was from, what is now known as modern day Ghana and her mother was the daughter of slaves from Guinea was known as Mau-Mau Bet. The Baumfrees were owned by Colonel Hardenburgh and lived at the Colonel’s estate in Esopus, NY, which was located about 95 miles from New York City. When the Colonel passed away, the Baumfrees were passed down to his son, Charles in 1806. By the age of 9 she was sold to a slave owner by the name of John Neely for $100 along with a flock of sheep. She would then be sold two more times after that before finally residing with John Dumont at West Park, NY. In 1815, she would fall in love with another slave from a …show more content…
She joined the Northampton Associate of Education and Industry of Northampton in Massachusetts in 1844. She devoted her life to Methodism and the abolition of slavery. In 1851, Truth would deliver a speech at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron. The speech would be known as “Ain’t I a Woman?” The first version of the speech was published a month later by Marius Robinson and the famous words would appear in print 12 years later.
Truth continued on the tour in Ohio from 1851 to 1853 with Robinson about the antislavery movement in Ohio. In 1864, she was requested to come to Washington, DC to participate in the National Freedman’s Relief Association. In 1865, she unsuccessfully tried to convince Congress to de-segregate the streetcars in Washington. Sojourner Truth continued to speak on women’s rights, suffrage and prison reform until her death at home in Battle Creek, MI on November 26, 1883. She remembered as one of the leaders as an advocate of women’s