Sojourner Truth (1797–1883)

I hadn't expected this book would be so deeply-seated in sermon. Religious texts are something that I struggle with, it's a personal struggle, it's nothing against the text, but my experiences just mean that I really find it hard to relate to sermons or religious texts.

And yet, I learnt so much from Sojourner Truth, or, Isabella, as she was also known. There were parts of this story that commanded my attention. Truth took a white man to court, after the white man illegally stole her son. show more

She was ruthless in her pursuit of her son, of justice, of this case, and that is why I wanted to read this book. There are many slave narratives out there, and so few of them are written by women. And here in this book, I felt her mother's love, her sense of justice and her tireless pursuit.

Next on the list, I'd love to read her most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?"

I feel like this is just the start of what I want to read from her. show less

A fairly quick read about a remarkable woman. I'd heard of Sojourner Truth but only now learned this a the name she gave herself as she set out as a traveling preacher. I also hadn't realized slavery was legal in NY state until 1827- Truth lived in the Catskills. This is her story, as told to a white abolitionist, with Victorian language. Worth the few hours to understand her experiences of family separation, violence, and finding her way on her own with courage, faith, and fortitude.

Surely a classic, but not in the Shakespearean sense. It is a unique look into the life of one of millions of American slaves; never to discount her story or trials and tribulations, hers and any other slave's tale is worth documenting. From her childhood, Isabella (aka Sojourner Truth) is at a disadvantage. Only able to speak Dutch; never educated in the modern function of time, be it hours or days; and has no knowledge in money management. Be unlettered, she cannot document her story into show more an autobiography, rather this book is a dictated biography. Her journey into the realm of religion, from a childlike understanding to a temporary extremism to a metered evangelism, her religiosity juxtaposes against the religious justification many of the slave owners used to keep others in bondage. show less

I would love to give this book 5 stars, because I would love to give Sojourner 5 stars. But unfortunately the book, is not the woman, and doesn't do a very great job of portraying her life. Only the first half of the book is her actual "Narrative," which unfortunately she leaves a great deal out of, due to reasons which these days seem ludicrous. She did not want to give the horrors of her time in slavery due to thinking that it would be scoffed at as fake, plus being ashamed etc. And she show more withheld other things saying that they'd injure innocent parties to find those people did such things, which is quite frustrating. And since she had no education and couldn't read or write, she merely dictated to a friend, and as such who knows how much of it was reworded and altered by the friend as they wrote it.

But it did give a fair bit of insight as to who the woman was, and what made her tick, and showing how extraordinary she was. In a time when blacks and women had no rights, no nothing, not only did she fiercly stand up for herself and what she felt to be her rights, but she actually took people to court, several times, and she won!! When blacks didn't even have last names, and women were to be seen and not heard, Sjourner Truth took people to court for slandering her name and she won!

However, the 2nd half of the book was her "Book of Life," her book(s) of mementos from her travels, articles about her in papers, signatures from friends and dignitaries she met with, was a chore to read through. Once you've read several of the articles, you've essentially read them all, except there's still another 50 or so to read through. It was dull rereading the same rundown over and over again. It would be much nicer if an editor in the future only published a few select articles, and then pulled out any distinct memorable quotes from the rest of them and put those in, rather than all the repetitive articles. And a list of the memorable signitaries would also suffice, rather than reading all the "Sojourner stayed with us on such&such date and gave a speech at such&such place and is such a wonderful lady" etc bits. It was just very dull trite reading. I loved hearing about her, hearing anecdotes from people, hearing about the various jerks she ripped into with her keen intellect, I'd love to hear more of that sort of thing. Unfortunately this book is just very dry. But I would encourage everyone to learn about this fabulous lady. show less