Sojourner Truth
Black feminist activist and leader (1797 - 1883) United States
Born a slave as Isabella Baumfree, at the age of nine she was auctioned off along with a flock of sheep and was later resold up to three times to different owners near New York. At the age of 3, Truth fell in love with another slave, Robert. One day, when he was going to visit her secretly, he was caught by his owner who beat him to death. This episode strongly marked Truth's life. Years later, already married to another slave and with 18 children, Truth ran away with her young daughter (still a baby), having to leave her other children behind. A year later, after the emancipation act had been approved in New York, Truth learned that her five-year-old son had been illegally sold. She took the case to court and recovered her son, who had suffered abuse by his new owner, becoming the first black woman to go to trial against a white man and win the case. Truth was a renowned speaker in defense of abolitionism and women's rights. Her famous speech, “Ain't I a woman?”, given at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 5, is considered one of the first Afrofeminist speeches and has shaped the spirit of black feminism to this day.
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