Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Narrative of Sojourner Truth
    Narrative of Sojourner Truth
    Narrative of Sojourner Truth
    Ebook135 pages2 hours

    Narrative of Sojourner Truth

    By Sojourner Truth

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Hailed as an inspiring memoir during a time of slavery, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth is not just about the emancipation of an African American woman, but also the strength of her faith. Truth provides the narrative of her life, from her early years as a slave to her liberation and life as a freed woman. A staunch activist, Truth also gives her readers insight on gender equality issues faced by women of her time and discusses the abolitionist movement.

    Raised as a slave, Sojourner Truth was illiterate and was able to complete her memoir by dictating it to her friend and neighbour, Olive Gilbert. Originally published in 1850, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth became an important work to the abolitionist movement, and was republished five times during the author’s life alone.

    HarperTorch brings great works of non-fiction and the dramatic arts to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperTorch collection to build your digital library.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 14, 2015
    ISBN9781443446877
    Author

    Sojourner Truth

    Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was an African American activist and preacher. She was born into slavery in New York but in 1826, she and her daughter escaped to freedom. A couple years later she would return to successfully recover her remaining child. As a free woman, Truth worked various jobs to support her family. She also converted to Christianity and became a traveling preacher. Through her connections with local abolitionists, she famously spoke at a women’s rights convention where she delivered the speech, "Ain't I a Woman?," which declared the need for racial and gender equality.

    Read more from Sojourner Truth

    Related to Narrative of Sojourner Truth

    Related ebooks

    Historical Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Mama Was a Number Runner: On The World According to Fannie Davis

      Mar 26, 2019

      A female entrepreneur from the Jim Crow South arrives in the 1950s industrial cauldron of Detroit, determined to figure out “how to make a way out of no way.” The post Mama Was a Number Runner: On The World According to Fannie Davis appeared first on

      4 min read

    • Article

      In 'A More Beautiful And Terrible History,' Fuel For The Fight Ahead

      Feb 4, 2018

      Jeanne Theoharis' new book re-examines civil rights history and the way it's been manipulated. "It is used to make us feel good about ourselves, to make us feel good about our progress," she says.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Henry Louis Gates Jr. on His Never-ending Quest to Excavate African-American History

      Dec 13, 2017

      Pioneering feminist Anna J. Cooper once wrote, "black people have to stop imitating white people and white culture." She went on to say that black Americans in 1893 had to find their own voice, the roots of which are buried in the literature, mytholo

      4 min read

    • Article

      'Annotated African American Folktales' Reclaims Stories Passed Down From Slavery

      Nov 10, 2017

      The new anthology, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar, aims to make century-old stories — of flying Africans, quizzical animals and even Uncle Remus — available to new generations.

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Warning From History.

      May 24, 2021

      A Warning From History.
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Black Prairie Archives: An Anthology Edited by Karina Vernon

      Sep 15, 2020

      The Prairies are my home. The Prairies are not my home. I am from the Prairies. I am not from the Prairies. It has always been like this. Although I, a Black woman of varied origins, have spent a significant portion of my life living in Alberta, my r

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tubman’s Allies

      Dec 5, 2019

      The first black woman to win back custody of a child from a slave holder, Truth had escaped slavery herself in 1826 and became a noted speaker for civil rights and preacher, made famous by her “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in 1851. In the Civil War she r

      1 min read

    • Article

      Leonard Pitts Jr.: The Year of Reading Women

      Jan 6, 2021

      I don’t mind admitting that I could really go for a good fistfight just now. Or a race against time to foil a terrorist plot. Or a zombie apocalypse. A zombie apocalypse would definitely hit the spot. As some of you will recall, I gave up those and o

      3 min read

    • Article

      Listen: The Racial Contract

      May 13, 2020

      Listen: The Racial Contract
      7 min read

    • Article

      Q&A With With Hanif Abdurraqib, Author Of ‘A Little Devil In America’

      Mar 31, 2021

      Black Americans have shaped the pop culture landscape, which poet and critic Hanif Abdurraqib says can be traced back to Black innovation.

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019

      Nov 23, 2019

      The Best Nonfiction Books of 2019
      7 min read

    • Article

      'From Here to Equality' Author Makes A Case, And A Plan, For Reparations

      Jun 17, 2020

      In a new book, economist William Darity Jr. argues that monetary payments are owed directly to the descendants of enslaved people, to help reverse more than two centuries of disenfranchisement.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Lady Sings the Blues

      Apr 23, 2015

      Lady Sings the Blues
      5 min read

    • Article

      Driving while Black

      Jul 31, 2020

      Driving while Black
      9 min read

    • Article

      Recy Taylor's Truth

      Jan 10, 2018

      Recy Taylor's Truth
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Narrative of Sojourner Truth

    3.5/5

    6 ratings6 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      While I had learned her name in history class, I never really knew the story of Sojourner Truth. I had even heard of and listened to a recounting of her most famous speech, "Ain't I a woman?" But I guess I never really understood who she was before.

      She was a much more interesting person than I gave her credit for, but I suppose that could be said of most historical figures. There is so much more here than I expected there to be.
    • 3/5
      I would love to give this book 5 stars, because I would love to give Sojourner 5 stars. But unfortunately the book, is not the woman, and doesn't do a very great job of portraying her life. Only the first half of the book is her actual "Narrative," which unfortunately she leaves a great deal out of, due to reasons which these days seem ludicrous. She did not want to give the horrors of her time in slavery due to thinking that it would be scoffed at as fake, plus being ashamed etc. And she withheld other things saying that they'd injure innocent parties to find those people did such things, which is quite frustrating. And since she had no education and couldn't read or write, she merely dictated to a friend, and as such who knows how much of it was reworded and altered by the friend as they wrote it. But it did give a fair bit of insight as to who the woman was, and what made her tick, and showing how extraordinary she was. In a time when blacks and women had no rights, no nothing, not only did she fiercly stand up for herself and what she felt to be her rights, but she actually took people to court, several times, and she won!! When blacks didn't even have last names, and women were to be seen and not heard, Sjourner Truth took people to court for slandering her name and she won!However, the 2nd half of the book was her "Book of Life," her book(s) of mementos from her travels, articles about her in papers, signatures from friends and dignitaries she met with, was a chore to read through. Once you've read several of the articles, you've essentially read them all, except there's still another 50 or so to read through. It was dull rereading the same rundown over and over again. It would be much nicer if an editor in the future only published a few select articles, and then pulled out any distinct memorable quotes from the rest of them and put those in, rather than all the repetitive articles. And a list of the memorable signitaries would also suffice, rather than reading all the "Sojourner stayed with us on such&such date and gave a speech at such&such place and is such a wonderful lady" etc bits. It was just very dull trite reading. I loved hearing about her, hearing anecdotes from people, hearing about the various jerks she ripped into with her keen intellect, I'd love to hear more of that sort of thing. Unfortunately this book is just very dry. But I would encourage everyone to learn about this fabulous lady.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating look at a fascinating woman. Looking forward to reading the 1884 edition.
    • 3/5
      I would love to give this book 5 stars, because I would love to give Sojourner 5 stars. But unfortunately the book, is not the woman, and doesn't do a very great job of portraying her life. Only the first half of the book is her actual "Narrative," which unfortunately she leaves a great deal out of, due to reasons which these days seem ludicrous. She did not want to give the horrors of her time in slavery due to thinking that it would be scoffed at as fake, plus being ashamed etc. And she withheld other things saying that they'd injure innocent parties to find those people did such things, which is quite frustrating. And since she had no education and couldn't read or write, she merely dictated to a friend, and as such who knows how much of it was reworded and altered by the friend as they wrote it. But it did give a fair bit of insight as to who the woman was, and what made her tick, and showing how extraordinary she was. In a time when blacks and women had no rights, no nothing, not only did she fiercly stand up for herself and what she felt to be her rights, but she actually took people to court, several times, and she won!! When blacks didn't even have last names, and women were to be seen and not heard, Sjourner Truth took people to court for slandering her name and she won!However, the 2nd half of the book was her "Book of Life," her book(s) of mementos from her travels, articles about her in papers, signatures from friends and dignitaries she met with, was a chore to read through. Once you've read several of the articles, you've essentially read them all, except there's still another 50 or so to read through. It was dull rereading the same rundown over and over again. It would be much nicer if an editor in the future only published a few select articles, and then pulled out any distinct memorable quotes from the rest of them and put those in, rather than all the repetitive articles. And a list of the memorable signitaries would also suffice, rather than reading all the "Sojourner stayed with us on such&such date and gave a speech at such&such place and is such a wonderful lady" etc bits. It was just very dull trite reading. I loved hearing about her, hearing anecdotes from people, hearing about the various jerks she ripped into with her keen intellect, I'd love to hear more of that sort of thing. Unfortunately this book is just very dry. But I would encourage everyone to learn about this fabulous lady.
    • 3/5
      Surely a classic, but not in the Shakespearean sense. It is a unique look into the life of one of millions of American slaves; never to discount her story or trials and tribulations, hers and any other slave's tale is worth documenting. From her childhood, Isabella (aka Sojourner Truth) is at a disadvantage. Only able to speak Dutch; never educated in the modern function of time, be it hours or days; and has no knowledge in money management. Be unlettered, she cannot document her story into an autobiography, rather this book is a dictated biography. Her journey into the realm of religion, from a childlike understanding to a temporary extremism to a metered evangelism, her religiosity juxtaposes against the religious justification many of the slave owners used to keep others in bondage.
    • 4/5
      First published in 1850 to further the cause of the abolition movement, the Narrative of Sojourner Truth is the story of an illiterate former slave from New York born with the name Isabella. She tells of the hardships she and her family endured because of slavery, and of her hard-won emancipation and subsequent itinerant Christian ministry. Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth in the early 1840s because she felt called of God to travel the country and preach that people should believe in Jesus and refrain from sin - especially the sin of slavery. While the finer points of her theology were often unorthodox, her zeal for "truth" as she understood it was fervent. Sojourner told her story to a "sympathetic white woman" named Olive Gilbert who faithfully recounted it in this book. The Dover Thrift Edition is 80 pages, with no index, footnotes, or bibliography.

    Book preview

    Narrative of Sojourner Truth - Sojourner Truth

    narrativeofsojourner_cover_resized.jpg

    NARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTH

    Written by Olive Gilbert, based on information provided by Sojourner Truth

    Sojourner Truth

    HarperPerennialClassicsLogo

    CONTENTS

    Chapter I—Her Birth and Parentage

    Chapter II—Accommodations

    Chapter III—Her Brothers and Sisters

    Chapter IV—Her Religious Instruction

    Chapter V—The Auction

    Chapter VI—Death of Mau-mau Bett

    Chapter VII—Last Days of Bomefree

    Chapter VIII—Death of Bomefree

    Chapter IX—Commencement of Isabella’s Trials in Life

    Chapter X—Trials Continued

    Chapter XI—Her Standing with Her New Master and Mistress

    Chapter XII—Isabella’s Marriage

    Chapter XIII—Isabella as a Mother

    Chapter XIV—Slaveholder’s Promises

    Chapter XV—Her Escape

    Chapter XVI—Illegal Sale of Her Son

    Chapter XVII—It Is Often Darkest Just Before Dawn

    Chapter XVIII—Death of Mrs. Eliza Fowler

    Chapter XIX—Isabella’s Religious Experience

    Chapter XX—New Trials

    Chapter XXI—Finding a Brother and Sister

    Chapter XXII—Gleanings

    Chapter XXIII—The Matthias Delusion

    Chapter XXIV—Fasting

    Chapter XXV—The Cause of Her Leaving the City

    Chapter XXVI—The Consequences of Refusing a Traveller a Night’s Lodging

    Chapter XXVII—Some of Her Views and Reasonings

    Chapter XXVIII—The Second Advent Doctrines

    Chapter XXIX—Another Camp Meeting

    Chapter XXX—Last Interview with Her Master

    Chapter XXXI—Certificates of Character

    About the Author

    About the Series

    Copyright

    About the Publisher

    Chapter I

    Her Birth and Parentage

    The subject of this biography, SOJOURNER TRUTH, as she now calls herself—but whose name, originally, was Isabella—was born, as near as she can now calculate, between the years 1797 and 1800. She was the daughter of James and Betsey, slaves of one Colonel Ardinburgh, Hurley, Ulster County, New York.

    Colonel Ardinburgh belonged to that class of people called Low Dutch.

    Of her first master, she can give no account, as she must have been a mere infant when he died; and she, with her parents and some ten or twelve other fellow human chattels, became the legal property of his son, Charles Ardinburgh. She distinctly remembers hearing her father and mother say, that their lot was a fortunate one, as Master Charles was the best of the family, —being, comparatively speaking, a kind master to his slaves.

    James and Betsey having, by their faithfulness, docility, and respectful behavior, won his particular regard, received from him particular favors—among which was a lot of land, lying back on the slope of a mountain, where, by improving the pleasant evenings and Sundays, they managed to raise a little tobacco, corn, or flax; which they exchanged for extras, in the articles of food or clothing for themselves and children. She has no remembrance that Saturday afternoon was ever added to their own time, as it is by some masters in the Southern States.

    Chapter II

    Accommodations

    Among Isabella’s earliest recollections was the removal of her master, Charles Ardinburgh, into his new house, which he had built for a hotel, soon after the decease of his father. A cellar, under this hotel, was assigned to his slaves, as their sleeping apartment,—all the slaves he possessed, of both sexes, sleeping (as is quite common in a state of slavery) in the same room. She carries in her mind, to this day, a vivid picture of this dismal chamber; its only lights consisting of a few panes of glass, through which she thinks the sun never shone, but with thrice reflected rays; and the space between the loose boards of the floor, and the uneven earth below, was often filled with mud and water, the uncomfortable splashings of which were as annoying as its noxious vapors must have been chilling and fatal to health. She shudders, even now, as she goes back in memory, and revisits this cellar, and sees its inmates, of both sexes and all ages, sleeping on those damp boards, like the horse, with a little straw and a blanket; and she wonders not at the rheumatisms, and fever-sores, and palsies, that distorted the limbs and racked the bodies of those fellow slaves in afterlife. Still, she does not attribute this cruelty—for cruelty it certainly is, to be so unmindful of the health and comfort of any being, leaving entirely out of sight his more important part, his everlasting interests,—so much to any innate or constitutional cruelty of the master, as to that gigantic inconsistency, that inherited habit among slaveholders, of expecting a willing and intelligent obedience from the slave, because he is a MAN—at the same time everything belonging to the soul-harrowing system does its best to crush the last vestige of a man within him; and when it is crushed, and often before, he is denied the comforts of life, on the plea that he knows neither the want nor the use of them, and because he is considered to be little more or little less than a beast.

    Chapter III

    Her Brothers and Sisters

    Isabella’s father was very tall and straight, when young, which gave him the name of ‘Bomefree’—low Dutch for tree—at least, this is SOJOURNER’s pronunciation of it—and by this name he usually went. The most familiar appellation of her mother was ‘Mau-mau Bett.’ She was the mother of some ten or twelve children; though Sojourner is far from knowing the exact number of her brothers and sisters; she being the youngest, save one, and all older than herself having been sold before her remembrance. She was privileged to behold six of them while she remained a slave.

    Of the two that immediately preceded her in age, a boy of five years, and a girl of three, who were sold when she was an infant, she heard much; and she wishes that all who would fain believe that slave parents have not natural affection for their offspring could have listened as she did, while Bomefree and Mau-mau Bett,—their dark cellar lighted by a blazing pine-knot,—would sit for hours, recalling and recounting every endearing, as well as harrowing circumstance that taxed memory could supply, from the histories of those dear departed ones, of whom they had been robbed, and for whom their hearts still bled. Among the rest, they would relate how the little boy, on the last morning he was with them, arose with the birds, kindled a fire, calling for his Mau-mau to ‘come, for all was now ready for her’—little dreaming of the dreadful separation which was so near at hand, but of which his parents had an uncertain, but all the more cruel foreboding. There was snow on the ground, at the time of which we are speaking; and a large old-fashioned sleigh was seen to drive up to the door of the late Col. Ardinburgh. This event was noticed with childish pleasure by the unsuspicious boy; but when he was taken and put into the sleigh, and saw his little sister actually shut and locked into the sleigh box, his eyes were at once opened to their intentions; and, like a frightened deer he sprang from the sleigh, and running into the house, concealed himself under a bed. But this availed him little. He was re-conveyed to the sleigh, and separated for ever from those whom God had constituted his natural guardians and protectors, and who should have found him, in return, a stay and a staff to them in their declining years. But I make no comments on facts like these, knowing that the heart of every slave parent will make its own comments, involuntarily and correctly, as soon as each heart shall make the case its own. Those who are not parents will draw their conclusions from the promptings of humanity and philanthropy: —these, enlightened by reason and revelation, are also unerring.

    Chapter IV

    Her Religious Instruction

    Isabella and Peter, her youngest brother, remained, with their parents, the legal property of Charles Ardinburgh till his decease, which took place when Isabella was near nine years old.

    After this event, she was often surprised to find her mother in tears; and when, in her simplicity, she inquired, ‘Mau-mau, what makes you cry?’ she would answer, ‘Oh, my child, I am thinking of your brothers and sisters that have been sold away from me.’ And she would proceed to detail many circumstances respecting them. But Isabella long since concluded that it was the impending fate of her only remaining children, which her mother but too well understood, even then, that called up those memories from the past, and made them crucify her heart afresh.

    In the evening, when her mother’s work was done, she would sit down under the sparkling vault of heaven, and calling her children to her, would talk to them of the only Being that could effectually aid or protect them. Her teachings were delivered in Low Dutch, her only language, and, translated into English, ran nearly as follows:—

    ‘My children, there is a God, who hears and sees you.’ ‘A God, Mau-mau! Where does he live?’ asked the children. ‘He lives in the sky,’ she replied; ‘and when you are beaten, or cruelly treated, or fall into any trouble, you must ask help of him, and he will always hear and help you.’ She taught them to kneel and say the Lord’s Prayer. She entreated them to refrain from lying and stealing, and to strive to obey their masters.

    At times, a groan would escape her, and she would break out in the language of the Psalmist—’Oh Lord, how long?’ ‘Oh Lord, how long?’ And in reply to Isabella’s question—‘What ails you, Mau-mau?’ her only answer was, ‘Oh, a good deal ails me’—‘Enough ails me.’ Then again, she would point them to the stars, and say, in her peculiar language, ‘Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.’

    Thus, in her humble way, did she endeavor to show them their Heavenly Father, as the only being who could protect them in their perilous condition; at the same time, she would strengthen and brighten the chain of family affection, which she trusted extended itself sufficiently to connect the widely scattered members of her precious flock. These instructions of the mother were treasured up and held sacred by Isabella, as our future narrative will show.

    Chapter V

    The Auction

    At length, the never-to-be-forgotten day of the terrible auction arrived, when the ‘slaves, horses, and other cattle’ of Charles Ardinburgh, deceased, were to be put under the hammer, and again change masters. Not only Isabella and Peter, but their mother, were now destined to the auction block, and would have been struck off with the rest to the highest bidder, but for the following circumstance: A question arose among the heirs, ‘Who shall be burdened with Bomefree, when we have sent away his faithful

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1