{"id":56563,"date":"2020-02-27T12:03:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T17:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=56563"},"modified":"2020-02-27T12:03:50","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T17:03:50","slug":"black-history-month-searching-for-sojourner-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/black-history-month-searching-for-sojourner-truth.html","title":{"rendered":"Black History Month: Searching for Sojourner Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, to help celebrate Black History Month, Jane Hampton Cook searches old newspapers to learn more about Sojourner Truth, including her meeting with Abraham Lincoln in October 1864. Jane, the former White House webmaster for President George W. Bush, is a presidential historian and the author of nine historical books. She is a consultant for the Women\u2019s Suffrage Centennial Commission.<\/em> Her works can be found at janecook.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sojourner Truth, an escaped slave who became an abolitionist and women\u2019s rights advocate, is often celebrated during Black History Month. This year, historians are also highlighting her women\u2019s rights contributions because 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Sojourner Truth\u2019s \u201ccarte de visite,\u201d which she sold to raise money (see inscription), 1864. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Who was Sojourner Truth? Abraham Lincoln knew who she was even before he met her at the White House in October 1864. The president told her that he had heard of her many times before.<\/p>\n

This was quite the compliment. Thanks to the articles in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>, it\u2019s possible to see how Lincoln and others could have read about her in newspapers in the decade before the Civil War.<\/p>\n

Born into slavery in 1797 in New York, Isabella Baumfree escaped in 1826 and changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843, with the mission of preaching God\u2019s truth \u2013 including as an abolitionist and women\u2019s rights activist. Her slave story, Narrative of Sojourner Truth<\/em>, was published in 1850 to show the horrors of slavery and encourage political leaders to abolish it. This publication gave her opportunities to speak.<\/p>\n

In an article about an anti-slavery convention held in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, the Liberator<\/em> reported that Sojourner Truth delivered remarks to the audience.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Liberator (Boston, Massachusetts), 16 August 1850, page 131<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sojourner\u2019s name appeared in the press several times in 1851, when she spoke at a women\u2019s rights convention in Ohio. The best account of her speech was published by the Anti-Slavery Bugle<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Anti-Slavery Bugle (New Lisbon, Ohio), 21 June 1851, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to transfer it [Sojourner\u2019s speech] to paper, or convey any adequate idea of the effect it produced upon the audience,\u201d the reporter wrote, longing for video technology that didn\u2019t exist. \u201cThose only can appreciate it who saw her powerful form, her whole-souled, earnest gestures, and listened to her strong and truthful tones.\u201d<\/p>\n

The paper quoted part of her speech:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, for we can\u2019t take more than our pint\u2019ll hold. The poor men seem to be all in confusion, and don\u2019t know what to do. Why children, if you have woman\u2019s rights give it to her and you will feel better. You will have your own rights, and they won\u2019t be so much trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

This speech, her newspaper coverage, and her published narrative made her a renowned figure when she met Abraham Lincoln. Newspapers reported their meeting.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
New York Tribune (New York, New York), 17 November 1864, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reported:<\/p>\n

\u201cA Washington correspondent of The Rochester Express<\/em> says: \u2018Sojourner Truth (whom everybody knows) is in the city, having come here expressly to visit Mr. Lincoln, and express to him her thanks for his proclamation freeing so many of her race.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sojourner published her version of their meeting in the Liberator<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Liberator (Boston, Massachusetts), 23 December 1864, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She reported this exchange:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Mr. President, when you first took your seat, I feared you would be torn to pieces, for I likened you unto Daniel, who was thrown into the lions\u2019 den. And if the lions did not tear you into pieces, I knew that it would be God that had saved you; and I said if He spared me I would see you before the four years expired, and He has done so, and now I am here to see you for myself\u2026 I appreciate you, for you are the best President who has ever taken the seat.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe replied thus:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I expect you have reference to my having emancipated the slaves in my Proclamation, but\u2019 said he, mentioning the names of several of his predecessors, and particularly Washington, \u2018they were just as good, as would have done just as I have if the time had come.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I thank God you were the instrument selected by Him and the people to do these things.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Both appreciated the other. Lincoln showed his affection in a book he signed for her: \u201cFor Aunty Sojourner Truth, Oct. 29, 1864. A. Lincoln.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the newspapers of the time \u2013 and their preservation in today\u2019s digital world \u2013 their meeting was recorded into history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, Jane Hampton Cook searches old newspapers to learn about Sojourner Truth, including her meeting with Abraham Lincoln in October 1864.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":56593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12323],"tags":[20527,2020,33,51537,5394],"class_list":["post-56563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-american-history-genealogy","tag-african-american-history-and-genealogy","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-slavery","tag-sojourner-truth","tag-womens-rights-movement"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/photo-0227-2020-featured-graphic-sojourner-truth.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}