No one who reads Painter's groundbreaking biography will forget this landmark figure and the story of her courageous life.

Isabella was born around 1797 on the estate of a Dutch patroon in Ulster County, New York, where her parents were slaves. No one who heard her speak ever forgot Sojourner Truth, the power and pathos of her voice, and the intelligence of her message. Social Reformers Sojourner Truth Truth, Sojourner (1797-1883) views 3,970,810 updated Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) Source Abolitionist, reformer Early Life in Slavery. As an abolitionist and a feminist, Truth defied the notion that slaves were male and women were white, expounding a fact that still bears repeating: among blacks there are women among women, there are blacks. Inspired by religion, Truth transformed herself from a domestic servant named Isabella into an itinerant pentecostal preacher her words of empowerment have inspired black women and poor people the world over to this day. Now, in a masterful blend of scholarship and sympathetic understanding, eminent black historian Nell Irvin Painter goes beyond the myths, words, and photographs to uncover the life of a complex woman who was born into slavery and died a legend. Like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, she is regarded as a radical of immense and enduring influence yet, unlike them, what is remembered of her consists more of myth than of personality. Straight-talking and unsentimental, Truth became a national symbol for strong black women-indeed, for all strong women. and ar'n't I a woman? Sojourner Truth: ex-slave and fiery abolitionist, figure of imposing physique, riveting preacher and spellbinding singer who dazzled listeners with her wit and originality. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud-puddles. Sojourner Truth first gained prominence at an 1851 Akron, Ohio, women's rights conference, saying, Dat man over dar say dat woman needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches.

Sojourner Truth by Nell Irvin Painter