  sojourner truth (;  â november 26, 1883) was an african-american abolitionist and women's rights activist. truth was born into slavery in swartekill, ulster county, new york, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. after going to court to recover her son, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. sojourner truth was named isabella ("bell") baumfree when she was born. she gave herself the name sojourner truth in 1843. her best-known extemporaneous speech on gender inequalities, "ain't i a woman?", was delivered in 1851 at the ohio women's rights convention in akron, ohio. during the civil war, truth helped recruit black troops for the union army; after the war, she tried unsuccessfully to secure land grants from the federal government for former slaves. ==early years== thumb|right|240px|house of col. johannes hardenbergh truth was one of the ten or twelvethe "ten or twelve" figure is from the section "her brothers and sisters" in the narrative (p. 10 in the 1998 penguin classics edition edited by nell irvin painter); it is also used in painter's biography, sojourner truth: a life, a symbol (norton, 1996), p. 11; and in carleton mabee with susan mabee newhouse's biography, sojourner truth: slave, prophet, legend (new york university press, 1993), p. 3. children born to james and elizabeth baumfree (or bomefree). james baumfree was an african captured from the gold coast in modern-day ghana. elizabeth baumfree, also known as mau-mau bett or betsy to children who knew her, was the daughter of enslaved africans from the coast of guinea.michael warren williams (1993), p. 1581; margaret washington, sojourner truth's america (illinois, 2009), p.54. colonel hardenbergh bought james and elizabeth baumfree from slave traders and kept their family at his estate in a big hilly area called by the dutch name [[swart
1797_births 1883_deaths 19th-century_Christian_saints African-American_Methodists African-American_abolitionists African-American_activists African-American_feminists American_feminist_writers American_people_of_Ghanaian_descent American_people_of_Guinean_descent American_slaves American_suffragists American_women_activists Anglican_saints Christian_female_saints_of_the_Late_Modern_era Feminism_and_history Methodist_feminists People_acquitted_of_murder People_celebrated_in_the_Lutheran_liturgical_calendar People_from_Battle_Creek,_Michigan People_from_Esopus,_New_York People_from_Northampton,_Massachusetts People_of_Michigan_in_the_American_Civil_War Sojourner_Truth Women_in_the_American_Civil_War