Sojourner Truth
Isabella Baumfree was born around 1797
in southeastern New York. The exact date of her birth was not typically
recorded for those born into slavery. She was one of twelve children born
to Elizabeth and James Baumfee, slaves of a Dutch-speaking couple. Dutch
was Isabella’s first language, only learning to speak English later. In 1806, at age 9, Isabella’s owner died and
his property, including the slaves, were sold at auction. Isabella was sold
together with a flock of sheep for $100. Over the next two years “Belle”
was sold twice more, before ending up in the home of John Dumont. There she married and had children.
New York has begun the process of
abolishing slavery some years before, finally outlawing the practice in
1827. Seeing the end of slavery coming, Mr Dumont promised Isabella her
freedom a year early if she ‘worked hard.’
She did, and Dumont reneged on his promise, so she escaped to a friendly
Quaker’s home with her infant daughter - unfortunately leaving her other two
children, a son and a daughter, behind. It was at the home of this Quaker
couple, and under their influence, that she found faith in Christ.
Just before the official end of
slavery in New York, she found out that her son, then age 5, had been illegally
sold to a slaveholder in Alabama. She filed a lawsuit and won, rescuing
her son and making her mark as the first black woman to successfully challenged
a white man in a US court. She was
eventually reunited with her son.
In 1843, Isabella sought a fresh start
for her life and asked God to give her a new name. She said that God gave
her the name ‘Soujourner’ - “because I was to travel up an’ down the land,
showin’ the people their sins, an’ bein’ a sign unto them.” She then
asked God to give her a second name, “cause everybody else had two names; and
the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the
people.” Soujourner Truth.
A Methodist, she became an itinerant
speaker - preaching the Gospel and advocating for abolition and womens’
suffrage. In her mind, the two causes were linked - and she feared for
the Suffrage movement being concerned that, once slavery was abolished, that
the cause of womens’ rights would be forgotten. Advocating strongly for
both, she was seen as a radical in her time.
Being controversial, she was once physically attacked by a mob, and
injured to the point that she had to walk with a cane for the rest of her life.
Sojourner spoke to Harriet Beecher
Stowe at a reception she held for a number of prominent clergymen. All
were fascinated by her demeanor and her stories. One clergyman asked her if she preached from
the Bible, to which she replied, “No, ‘cause I can’t read. When I
preaches, I has just one text to preach from, an’ I always preaches from this
one. My text is, ‘When I found
Jesus.’” One preacher remarked to her
that she couldn’t have found a better text.
During the Civil War, Sojourner
recruited black troops for the Union Army. Her own grandson, James
Caldwell, enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, depicted in the
1989 movie ‘Glory’.
Sojourner continued to advocate for
the rights of Black citizens after the Civil War and for womens’ rights.
She traveled the country speaking and advocating. She met with at least two Presidents (Abraham
Lincoln and Ulysses Grant). She later retired to Battle Creek, Michigan,
where she died in 1883.
Quotes:
"Then
that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men,
'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your
Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
"If the
first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all
alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right
side up again! And now they is asking to do it, [and] the men better let
them."
“Religion
without humanity is very poor human stuff.”
“I am not
going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.”
References: 131 Christians
Everyone Should Know, Packer, J. I., Holman Publishing, 2000.
No comments:
Post a Comment