Isabella Baumfree gave herself the name Sojourner Truth after she became convinced that God had called her to leave the city and go into the countryside, “testifying the hope that was in her.” Her best-known speech was delivered extemporaneously, in 1851, at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. The speech became widely known during the Civil War by the title “Ain’t I a Woman?”
Truth helped recruit Black troops (including women) for the Union Army during the Civil War. She continued to fight on behalf of women and African Americans until her death. It is important to see her as a real person who, despite starting life enslaved, rose up and fought tirelessly with incredible conviction, faith, and courage for human rights and personal freedoms. And it is important that women today continue the work.
God, our Creator, thank you for blessing the world with Sojourner, full of faith and forever in search of what is true. Give us eyes to continue the search and bold voices to speak the truth we find. Amen.
This message is excerpted from “Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?” by Valora Starr from the February 2, 2023, blog of the Women of the ELCA.
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