Sojourner Truth changed the course of history by speaking out against slavery in the 1800s. Reporter Candace Dunkley shares the story of the hero from Ulster County who changed American history.
ESOPUS, N.Y. -- Not many people outside Ulster County know where the abolitionist Sojourner Truth is from.
In the 1840s and 1850s, she traveled through New England and Western states teaching about the horrors of slavery. Her message will forever live on through history.
“Trying to convert the common people to understand that what was happening was not only a crime but a sin,” said former Ulster County Historian Anne Gordon.
Sojourner Truth was born in the town of Esopus and was sold many times in the county. A statue in Esopus shows the brutality she endured as a slave. Trina Greene made the Sojourner Truth Sculpture, which depicts marks from where her master whipped her.
“He whipped her because she spoke only Dutch,” said Greene.
She spent much of her life in Ulster County, but it was on a road in West Park where she escaped slavery and found freedom in Rifton.
“She decides she’s in control here and she’s going to decide what happens in her life,” said Gordon.
That determination took her to Ulster County Court in Kingston where she sued the man who sold her son into slavery. With that act, she became the first black woman to successfully sue a white man in court.
“She knew she had rights and she came here to fight for them.
In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth, convinced that God wanted her to travel the land and share her story.
“If she had the advice of the most expensive Madison Avenue firm she couldn’t have picked a more resonant, meaningful name,” said Gordon.
It's a name that you can find throughout Ulster County and it started with a girl who never gave up.
“So on her face is also reflected a kind of determination,” said Greene. “As a girl she was basically confident that God would lead her to ultimate freedom.”
Truth used that freedom to change the course of history. She was vocal on a lot of other issues including women's rights. In 1851, she gave the famous speech "Ain't I a Woman?" at a women's rights convention. It is still recited today.