Sojourner Truth Essay, Research Paper
Kelsey CruickshankMarch 13,
2000
Book report #3English
?Sojourner Truth, Fearless Crusader,? by Helen Stone Peterson. The
book had two hundred and ninety four pages. I chose this book because
people overlook this woman when thinking about African Americans
who have spread positive ideas.
The main character is Isabella, who later renamed herself Sojourner
Truth. The book begins while she is only nine years old. In the
beginning she is a naive and scared little girl, but as the book
progresses, she becomes a strong and opinionated woman. The other
characters are the people who help her throughout her life, and those
that try and hinder her.
The book is about Sojourner Truth, and the struggles she faced
throughout her life due to her race. It begins with her as a nine year old
girl who is frightened about being seperated from her family, and being
sold to a new family. By the time she is thirteen she had been sold five
times. Shortly after July 4, 1827, Sojourner escaped her former owner,
to begin a life of her own, as a free woman. At the time she was twenty
nine. By leaving her owner, she left her children. To get them back, she
placed a formal complaint with a local courthouse, in Kingston, NY.
The court appealed in her favor, allowing her her son. In 1829, she and
her two children moved to New York City, so that her son and daughter
could have an education. She lived there for three years. In the
beginning of her fourth year, a religious man invited her present
employer to come to his communal country estate, so as to worship God.
While there, Sojourner?s employer died, and she was blamed for his
death. To prove that she was innocent, she went to former employers,
getting letters that praised her highly. Due to this slander of her name,
she took her complaint to court, where in a white jury, she was
pronounced not guilty, and awarded a small sum of money. Shortly
after this, her son Peter presumably died. Feeling guilty that his
childhood only consisted of beatings, Sojourner traveled around New
York, New England and Massachusetts, helping people and spreading
God?s word. In 1850, a book was published about Sojourner?s life. She
was fifty three at the time. She would later attend antislavery meetings,
telling people about her life, and sing the songs her mother taught her.
After an antislavery/woman?s right meeting in Akron, Ohio, Sojourner
then became a fighter for women?s rights. On Thanksgiving in 1862,
Sojourner and her family brought dinner to black soldiers training near
Detroit. At the age of sixty seven, she met with Abraham Lincoln. After
Lincoln?s assassination, she met with President Johnson, and shortly
after, changed laws in Washington that forced streetcar conductors to
stop for black passengers. Sojourner Truth died in 1883 of a fatal
illness.
This book is an incredible relay of what African Americans had to face
before the Civil War, and even what they continue to face now. After
reading this book I came away with an immense knowledge of the
history of NY, as well as the history of a woman who helped pave the
way for abolitionists, and women?s rights movements.
I though this book was interesting, as well as informative. Although the
mood of the book was sometimes a little depressing, the characterization
was good, and the imagery was interesting, as was the symbolism. These
literary techniques helped to enhance the picture of what the people had
to live through. All in all, I really enjoyed reading it.