Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth

Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth

One of the most famous and admired African-American women in U.S. history, Sojourner Truth sang, preached, and debated at camp meetings across the country, led by her devotion to the antislavery movement and her ardent pursuit of women's rights. Born into slavery in 1797, Truth fled from bondage some 30 years later to become a powerful figure in the progressive movements reshaping American society.
This remarkable narrative, first published in 1850, offers a rare glimpse into the little-documented world of Northern slavery. Truth recounts her life as a slave in rural New York, her separation from her family, her religious conversion, and her life as a traveling preacher during the 1840s. She also describes her work as a social reformer, counselor of former slaves, and sponsor of a black migration to the West.
A spellbinding orator and implacable prophet, Truth mesmerized audiences with her tales of life in bondage and with her moving renditions of Methodist hymns and her own songs. Frederick Douglass described her message as a strange compound of wit and wisdom, of wild enthusiasm, and flint-like common sense. This inspiring account of a black woman's struggles for racial and sexual equality is essential reading for students of American history, as well as for those interested in the continuing quest for equality of opportunity.

Sojourner Truth, born Isabella, a slave in Ulster County, New York, around 1797, became an abolitionist, orator, and preacher, and eventually an icon for strong black women. She was emancipated by state law in 1827, and the following year she moved to New York City, where she found work in wealthy households and became increasingly involved in unorthodox religious groups. In the early 1830s she joined the commune or Kingdom of the Prophet Matthias. By 1843 she had transformed herself into the itinerant preacher Sojourner Truth, and spent most of the next thirteen years in Northampton, Massachusetts. Illiterate, she dictated her autobiography to her neighbor Olive Gilbert, and the Narrative of Sojourner Truth was published in 1850. The following year Truth set out to promote her book and to speak out on abolition and women's rights. In the 1870s Truth's friend and informal manager Frances Titus compiled a new edition of the Narrative, adding the Book of Life, a scrapbook comprising essays, articles, and letters from Truth's contemporary admirers. Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1883, and the following year Titus published a new edition that included A Memorial Chapter.

Nell Irvin Painter is the author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol and Standing at Armageddon, the United States, 1877-1919, The Narrative of Hosea Hudson and Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction. She is Edwards Professor of History at Princeton University, where she currently heads the program in African-American Studies.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780679740353
ISBN 10	067974035X
Title	Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Author	Sojourner Truth
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Vintage
Year published	1993-02-09
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.