Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883). A Link in the Delaware and Hudson Heritage Corridor. , Hurley's most famous native, Sojourner Truth, was born a slave named Isabella Baumfree in 1979. One of 13 children, she spoke only the Dutch of her owners until they sold her when she turned eleven. She learned English in the household of her next master, but she would speak with a Dutch accent for the rest of her life., Her fourth master, John Dumont, forced Isabella to marry Thomas, an older slave. Thomas and Isabella had five children. Dumont promised Isabella freedom, but reneged on his promise. So in late 1826 Isabella ran away with her infant daughter. In 1828, the state of New York ended slavery and she won a landmark suit to recover her son Peter who had been illegally sold into slavery in Alabama., Isabella settled in New York City, and worked as a domestic for several religious communities. In 1843, at age 46, she had a spiritual revelation that changed her life. She took the name Sojourner Truth and preached "God's truth and plan for salvation" while walking through Long Island and Connecticut. After months of travel, she joined the utopian community, the Northampton Association for Education and Industry in Northampton, Massachusetts. There she met and worked with abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and Olive Gilbert. Her dictated memoirs were published in 1850 as The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: Northern Slave., Sojourner Truth added abolitionism and women's suffrage to her oratory, giving personal testimony about her experiences as a slave. In 1851, at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, she presented a historic speech "Ain't I a Woman?" In 1864 she visited President Lincoln in the White House and in 1865 rode the Washington D.C. streetcars to force their desegregation. Following the Civil War, she worked tirelessly to aid the newly-freed southern slaves and petitioned Congress to give former slaves land in the "new West." Truth continued preaching and lecturing until ill health forced her to retire. She died in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1883. The boudaries of Hurley have changed since Sojourner Truth was born. Her birthplace now lies within Rifton. Despite the boundary change, the Town of Hurley is proud to consider Sojourner Truth one of our own.