Today is Sojourner Truth Day, which Commemorates the death of Sojourner Truth in 1883. 10 things you might not know about her.
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Sojourner Truth wasn’t her real name. Her birth name was Isabella Baumfree and she was known as Belle. She changed her name from Isabella Baumfree to Sojourner Truth in 1843, because the Holy Spirit called upon her to speak the truth.
She had at least 10 siblings but hardly got a chance to get to know them before they were sold. She herself was sold at the age of nine, at an auction with a flock of Sheep for $100. She would be sold twice more over the next two years.
The community where she was born was Dutch speaking, but she was sold to English speaking people who would beat her for not doing as she was told, when in fact she couldn’t understand what she was being told to do. However, she was intelligent enough to pick up English by listening to others talking.
Truth fell in love with an enslaved person named Robert, but since he lived on a neighbouring farm, Robert wasn’t allowed to marry her, even though they had a child together. This was because any children they had would be the property of Truth’s owner. Robert and Truth never saw each other again, and she was forced to marry someone else. She had a son called Peter and two daughters with her husband.
In 1825, the owner of the farm told Sojourner that he was going to free her in a year because she was a good worker. He didn’t keep his promise, however, and so Sojourner ran away with her baby daughter. She went to stay with some neighbours, the Van Wageners, who were against slavery. They bought her for $20 and set her free.
However, she’d been forced to leave her other children behind and feared they might be sold. In fact, her son Peter was sold at the age of 5, even though the New York Anti-Slavery Law had passed by then. Sojourner made history by taking her former owner to court for selling her son illegally, and winning the case.
She became a Christian and worked for a time as a housekeeper for a minister. She became a powerful speaker herself, preaching about faith, women's rights, and the abolition of slavery. Her most famous speech is known as "Ain't I a Woman?" an improvised speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron in 1851. However, since her first language was Dutch, historians believe she probably never uttered that exact phrase because it was a southern idiom.
Her memoirs were published in 1850 under the title The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. She had never been given the opportunity to learn to read and write, so she dictated her story to a friend, Olive Gilbert.
Women’s rights and slavery weren’t the only things she was passionate about. She opposed capital punishment and was a champion of prison reform.
She died on 26 November 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan, which is why today is the day on which she is commemorated. Her precise date of birth was never recorded. The Asteroid 249521 Truth was named for her, as was the Mars rover Sojourner.
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Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
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