Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?: Chapters 8–10

I hears talk about the Constitution and the rights of man. I comes up and I takes hold of this Constitution. It looks mighty big. And I feels for my rights. But they not there. Then I says, ‘God, what ails this Constitution?’

Southerners felt pressed to defend their way of life against the onslaught of criticism hurled at them by Northern “meddlers.”

George Fitzhugh, a Virginia slaveholder, wrote in 1854 that blacks were better off slaves in America than “a far more cruel slavery in Africa, or from idolatry and cannibalism, and every brutal crime that can disgrace humanity.”

Sojourner was alert and ready with an answer for those who did use Fitzhugh’s erroneous material: “Be careful,” she’d say forcefully, “God will not stand with wrong; never mind how right you think you be.”

Border ruffians from Missouri crossed over into Kansas to vote for Kansas to be admitted as a slave state.

Free-Soil Kansas residents rejected the vote and refused to accept the provisional slave-state government.

Armed conflict was inevitable.

Southerners, on the other hand, used John Brown to illustrate abolitionists’ extremism.

Frances Titus, a friend and neighbor who helped Sojourner with her correspondence, would edit and expand the Narrative six times between 1853 and 1884.

Then, in 1831, Turner, a Virginia slave, led an insurrection that resulted in the death of sixty whites.

A female relative of George Washington put it succinctly: “We know that death in the most horrid form threatens us.”

And, at first, more than a few moderate abolitionists tried to distance themselves from Brown’s firebrand methods—but the grass-roots support for him was overwhelming.

Sojourner was convinced he would be a good president, but waited to endorse him.

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a “test” of black soldiers’ ability in combat.

Slavery made a conquest in this country by the suppression of free speech, and freedom must make her conquest by the steadfast support of free speech.

Slavery made a conquest in this country by the suppression of free speech, and freedom must make her conquest by the steadfast support of free speech.

One man said she was foolish for trying to help. Sojourner asked who he was. He answered, “I am the only son of my mother.” To which Sojourner quipped: “I am glad there are no more!”

We are the hardy soldiers of the First of Michigan;
We’re fighting for the Union and for the rights of man.
And when the battle wages you’ll find us in the van,
As we go marching on.

We are the valiant soldiers who 'listed for the war;
We are fighting for the Union, we are fighting for the law.

They will have to pay us wages, the wages of their sin;
They will have to bow their foreheads to their colored kith and kin

If he hadn’t she’d admonish him, saying, “Don’t grieve your parents. Write to them, now.”

Congress had set aside appropriations for the establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau, designed to help former slaves make the transition from slavery to freedom.

Later, “Aunty” and “Uncle” became terms elderly black women and men resented.

Although she had her “Book of Life” with her that day, Sojourner left without asking President Johnson to sign it. Whether it was an oversight or intentional is not known and she never explained it.

Her booming voice could be heard resounding through the corridors, “Be clean! Be clean!”

In addition to fighting for equal rights for women, she worked for government-sponsored black homesteads out West.

She argued that blacks had been forced to work with no profit from their own labor, yet no slave had ever been compensated.

Arriving at the Capitol building one morning dressed in her usual white cap, gray dress, and white shawl, she was a striking figure of poise.

Our labor supplied the country with cotton, until villages and cities dotted the enterprising North for its manufacture—and furnished employment and support for a multitude, thereby becoming a revenue to the government.

Our nerves and sinews, our tears and blood have been sacrificed on the altar of this nation’s avarice.

Our nerves and sinews, our tears and blood have been sacrificed on the altar of this nation’s avarice.

Our unpaid labor had been a stepping stone to its financial success. Some of its dividends must surely be ours.

It was refreshing, but also strange, to see a woman born in the shackles of slavery now treated to a reception by senators in a marble room. A decade ago she would have been spurned from its outer corridor by the lowest menial.

A decade ago she would have been spurned from its outer corridor by the lowest menial.

Whereas, from the faithful and earnest representations of Sojourner Truth (who has personally investigated the matter) we believe that the freed colored people in and about Washington, dependent upon government for support, would be greatly benefited and might become useful citizens by being placed in a position to support themselves...

We, the undersigned, therefore earnestly request your honorable body to set apart for them a portion of the public land in the West and erect buildings thereon for the aged and infirm, and otherwise legislate so as to secure the desired results.

Teach them to read part of the time and teach them to work the other part of the time. Do that, and they will soon be a people among you. That is my commission!

Then at 3:00 A.M. on the morning of November 26, 1883, Sojourner Truth died at age eighty-six. She was eulogized as a dynamic woman with strength, integrity, poise, and
 wit.

A reporter described that last scene: “The long line of carriages, the hearse with its black plumes, the people—all so motionless—the cloudless sky, the great round, red sun lying low on the horizon....”

Whenever people speak out against injustice and scorn oppression, Sojourner Truth is in their midst.