Sojourner Truth
(Isabella Baumfree)
Student Name
Mr. Gumm
Rm. #32
The Beginning
Sojourner Truth was also know as Isabella Baumfree
• She was born in 1797 Ulster County, as a slave
• She was one of 13 children belonging to James and
Elizabeth Baumfree
• She had only spoken Dutch until she was sold to an
American owner at age 9
Growing Up
At age 9 she was sold to John Neely
He beat her multiple times for not knowing English
Her father saved her by getting Martinus Schryver to
buy her for $105
He had a much better environment for her
Once again she was sold to John Dumont
Becoming a Woman
When she was 18 she fell in love with a slave named
Robert
But, his owner forbid him to see her
He came to her but, his owner followed him
And she never saw Robert again
Later she had a daughter named Diana
She was forced to marry an older save named
Thomas
She had 4 children with him Peter, Elizabeth, Sophia,
and James who had died young
Life Before Freedom
On July 5, 1827 all slaves were to be freed
Her owner Dumont promised her freedom a year
before If she worked extra hard
But due to a hand injury he said she didn’t work as
hard
So she spun 100 pounds of wool and left feeling she
had done enough
She went to the home of Maria and Isaac Van
Wagener
Dumont had arrived demanding she come with him,
Isaac bought her for $20
Life During Freedom
• She set to work getting her son Peter
• He had been sold to another slaveholder then
illegally sold to an Alabama slave holder
• A friend told her about a group called the Quakers
• She went to court and won
• Peter came back scarred and abused
• She met Elijah Pierson
• Later she was accused of poisoning him
• She found a house in New York
Being Sojourner
• June 1, 1843 she changed her name to Sojourner
Truth
• Then joined Northampton Association of Education
and Industry in Massachusetts
• 210 members lived on 500 acres for laboring
• It was to promote cooperative productive labor
• She met William Lloyd Garrison, Fredrick Douglas,
and David Ruggles
• Then dictated memoirs to Olive Gilbert
• Called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern
Slave
Speaking
• In Ohio she gave her famous speech “Ain’t I A
Woman?”
• Around Civil War time she spoke for the Union
• In 1864 October she met President Abraham Lincoln
when he showed her the Lincoln Bible
• After touring with grandson Sammy banks she got
ulcers on her legs
• She was treated by Dr. Orville Guiteau
• Made few appearances around Michigan and went
home
The End
• Her daughters Diana and Elizabeth watched
her die on November 26, 1883
• Age 86
• Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek
Michigan next to her grandson
• There have been many ways she was Honored
from 1935-2008