A Tribute to Sojourner Truth

Posted By Susan Kerin

Many of us remember Susan B. Anthony and Harriett Tubman - both were friends with, and influenced by, the amazing Sojourner Truth..

A tall gaunt former slave with a thick dutch accent, Truth simultaneously sparked both the abolitionist and women's rights movements in 1851 with her "Ain't I a woman" speech.

Witnesses to her impromptu ad libbed speech note that when she first rose to the platform, the crowd was apprehensive with some attendees lobbying to not allow her to speak.

As she began talking, however, the crowd became engrossed in her words and by the end of her short speech, the roar of applause inside the church was deafening.

The two lessons that I learn from her testimony is that (1) even those from humble and modest backgrounds and characters can make a difference in this world and (2) you do not need to compromise yourself in deciding which injustice to address.

Many of her contemporaries believed if you were an activist for slavery you compromised your role in the women's rights movement and vice versa.

Truth showed that you can do both, and in her doing so, she actually made both movements stronger.