Isabelle Kinnard Richman - Sojourner Truth: Prophet of Social Justice

Although Sojourner Truth was born into bondage and oppression, in liberation she emerged as a leader in the most radical causes of her era. She travelled the country as an outspoken and riveting presence, battling for the abolition of slavery and for womens suffrage. While her role in these movements has been well-documented, biographers have frequently overlooked the influence of religion in Truths life. A participant in a number of the most significant religious movements of her day, including the Methodist Perfectionists, the Kingdom of Matthias, the Utopians, and the Spiritualists, Truth drew her notions of justice from religion.

Sojourner Truth: Prophet of Social Justice provides a concise biography of this important figure, integrating her religious life in ways that shed light on Truths work and the religious movements of her day. Accompanied by primary source documents including political records, speech transcripts, and selections from her autobiography, Richmans biography provides a rich and accessible narrative of Truths life and legacy.

Isabelle Kinnard Richman is the Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Routledge Historical Americans

SERIES EDITOR: PAUL FINKELMAN

Routledge Historical Americans is a series of short, vibrant biographies that illuminate the lives of Americans who have had an impact on the world. Each book includes a short overview of the persons life and puts that person into historical context through essential primary documents, written both by the subjects and about them. A series website supports the books, containing extra images and documents, links to further research, and where possible, multi-media sources on the subjects. Perfect for including in any course on American History, the books in the Routledge Historical Americans series show the impact everyday people can have on the course of history.

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Sojourner Truth: Prophet of Social Justice
Isabelle Kinnard Richman

Prophet of Social Justice

Isabelle Kinnard Richman

www.routledge.com/cw/HistoricalAmericans

First published 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Richman, Isabelle Kinnard, author.

Title: Sojourner Truth : prophet of social justice / Isabelle Kinnard Richman.

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, [2016] | Series: Routledge historical Americans | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015046313 | ISBN 9780415808699 (hardback) | ISBN 9780415808705 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780203081679 (e-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Truth, Sojourner, 17991883. | African AmericansBiography. | AbolitionistsUnited StatesBiography. | Social reformersUnited StatesBiography.

Classification: LCC E185.97.T8 R53 2016 | DDC 326/.8092dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016046313

ISBN: 978-0-415-80869-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-80870-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-08167-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Minion and Scala Sans
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

This book and my interest in Sojourner Truth began in a college seminar on Women Christian Mystics that I taught at the College of William and Mary in 2003. My interest fell into dormancy when I took a detour from teaching to start a new project working on religious freedom for a museum. Years later, when my friend and colleague Paul Finkelman proposed that I write a biography for Routledges Historical Americans series, the words Sojourner Truth popped out of my mouth, and that rekindled my research interest. When my career led me back to academia and I arrived in the Religious Studies Program at Virginia Commonwealth, my faculty colleagues offered enthusiastic help and support. I especially thank Mark Wood, Christopher Brooks, Richard Godbeer, David Bromley, Cliff Edwards, Esther Nelson, John Kneebone, Ryan Smith and Sarah Meacham. I thank the excellent editorial staff at Routledge Press and, again, Paul for his patient and painstaking editorial suggestions.

For their emotional and physical support during the duration of this project, I thank: my doctor, Jonathan Bekenstein, of Virginia Commonwealth University Hospitals for helping me negotiate the rough landscape of Multiple Sclerosis; my friends in my MS Support group for their unflagging encouragement, interest, and good cheer; and, most especially, I thank my beloved husband and partner Jeff Richman for his hours of careful editing, proofreading, and repeated kicking of the tires.

Sojourner Truths bravery, vision, and struggle during her nearly 40 years of social justice activism helped to end slavery, desegregate public transportation, achieve racial uplift for blacks, and secure voting rights for women. She was born in 1797 and died in 1883. She only began to pursue her mission at the age of 47, and worked tirelessly until she turned 81. The powerful spirituality and courageous determination that buoyed her along in the second half of her life were forged in the crucible of her earlier enslavement. She was born a northern slave in Dutch speaking Ulster County, New York; in 1826 she was emancipated after she stole away from the home of her master and found her liberator, a local abolitionist. For the next 17 years she worked as a domestic in New York City, learned English, and experimentally joined a number of religious denominations. She even spent time as a member of a short-lived religious cult now known as the Kingdom of Matthias. During those years she was known by her slave name Isabella. When the Spirit call[ed] her in 1843, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth and set forth on foot to pursue a mission to preach. Months later, she settled into a utopian community called the Northampton Association for Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts. Living among the radical abolitionists, the focus of her mission shifted from religion to social justice, but her underlying spiritual calling remained the same. At the Northampton Association she met and befriended many activists, including William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Sojourner Truth spoke prophetically to a nation as she advocated powerfully for abolition, womens suffrage, the resettlement of emancipated blacks, and the desegregation of the Washington D.C. public streetcar system.