Sojourner Truth spent much of her life advocating for others, and at a recent fundraiser, supporters of her namesake ministry in Williamsport learned more about her life and her efforts.
Storyteller Denise Valentine embodied the one-time slave and told her story during a dinner at Pine Street United Methodist Church.
Valentine, as Truth, recalled her escape from slavery, her calling to sojourn around the country and her efforts to end slavery and advocate for women's rights.
Truth, born Isabella Baumfree, was born into slavery in upstate New York and sold several time in her life before escaping. Through her life as a slave, she sought comfort in God and developed a lifelong sense of spirituality and purpose.
"I felt as long as I didn't owe him nothing it'd be all right if I just walked away," she said of her escape. "When he decided not to give me my freedom, I didn't wait for no emancipation law. I paid a dear, dear price for that freedom because I left my husband and my children."
After taking her freedom, Truth dedicated much of her time to speaking out against the practice of slavery often with arguments rooted in spirituality.
"A cruel institution judged me by the color of my skin," she said. "Just who made your skin white? Who made mine black? Was it not the same God?"
When she was in her 40s, Truth heard a calling from God that led her to change her name and travel around the country speaking out for rights of the former slaves and women's rights.
"I got a message from the Lord," she said. "He told me to go around this great nation telling white folks about their sins against my people."
Truth also used spirituality as a basis for her arguments for women's rights, particularly in her famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman," which Valentine incorporated into her presentation.
"I have born 13 children and seen most all of them sold into slavery. When I cried out in my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me," she said. "Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman. Man ain't had much to do with it. If one woman all alone was strong enough to turn this world upside down. Then these women together ought to be able to turn it right side up again."
Valentine, at the end of her presentation, told the audience that Truth often was an unpopular figure among black people in her time because of her beliefs about slavery and her involvement in the temperance movement.
"(In her early years) she believed if you were born a slave you owed a debt to your master," Valentine said of Truth. "She trusted white people would see the light. She was hoping if she went around and talked to enough people their hearts would change."
The storyteller also said Truth is a challenging figure to portray because of her illiteracy and the fact that the former slave was a bit of a storyteller herself who often exaggerated to make a point. For instance in the "Ain't I a Woman" speech, Truth said she had 13 children, but in reality she gave birth to five children, one of whom died shortly after childbirth.
"She liked to manipulate white folks in any way she could to get them to see things the way she did," Valentine said. "It was their hearts she wanted to change."
Truth died in 1883 at her home in Battle Creek, Mich., and Valentine said, in her honor, numerous ministries around the country have been named after her, including the local Sojourner Truth Ministries on High Street.
The local organization strives daily to carry on Truth's legacy and give a voice to the voiceless through free daily meals, clothing and church services.
