Sojourner Truth

Born in 1797 in Ulster County, a Dutch settlement in upstate New York, Isabella Baumfree was one of 13 children born to slave parents. She lived with her family until she was sold off at the age of 11. Although enduring much hardship intrinsic to the times, Baumfree traveled the country inspiring others who were suffering like her and who desperately needed hope.Until she was freed by the New York State Emancipation Act of 1827, Baumfree suffered at the hands of several slave masters but remained hopeful because of the strong Christian faith she inherited from her mother. Later in life, she felt that Isabella Baumfree was not the name God had intended for her so she changed her name to Sojourner Truth.

In 1843, Truth became inspired by a spiritual revelation and began to travel the country from Long Island to Connecticut preaching "God's truth" and "plan for salvation." She then joined the utopian society "The Northampton Association for Education and Industry," where she met and worked with other famous abolitionists such as William Garrison, Frederick Douglass and Olive Gilbert.

Although she spent most of her time preaching for equality and the abolition movement, Truth also strongly supported the woman's suffrage movement and coined the famous phrase "Ain't I a Woman?" at a 1851 women's convention held in Akron, Ohio. In addition, Truth is famous for the publication of her memoirs in 1850 titled "The Narrative Story of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave." Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1883.