IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 265 
Commemorating the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 28, 2019 
Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Ms. BASS, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mrs. 
MCBATH, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, 
Mrs. HAYES, Ms. PLASKETT, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. MENG, Mr. 
HORSFORD, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. 
YARMUTH, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mrs. TORRES of California, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. BISHOP of 
Georgia, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 
CLYBURN, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, and Mrs. LAWRENCE) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth. 
Whereas Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree to her 
slave parents James and Elizabeth Baumfree, in 1897 in 
Dutch-speaking Swartekill, Ulster County, New York; 
Whereas Sojourner Truth was born two years before ‘‘An Act 
for the Gradual Elimination of Slavery’’ became law in 
Pennsylvania, which consigned her to the status of slave 
for the rest of her life; 
Whereas Sojourner Truth, starting at the age of 9 and con-
tinuing into adolescence, was bought and sold 4 times 
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and bore at least 5 children, but lived to overcome her 
hardscrabble beginning to become one of the most fa-
mous and influential women of the 19th century; 
Whereas, in 1827, the year before a New York law freeing 
slaves took effect, Sojourner Truth escaped from bondage 
with her infant daughter Sophia and sought refuge with 
staunch abolitionists Maria Van Wagener and her hus-
band Dr. Isaac Van Wagener; 
Whereas for twenty dollars the Van Wageners bought So-
journer Truth’s freedom and helped her successfully sue 
for the return of her 5-year-old son Peter, who had been 
illegally sold into slavery in Alabama; 
Whereas, in 1828, Sojourner Truth moved to New York City 
to work for a local minister and, by the early 1830s, her 
reputation of being a charismatic speaker was becoming 
well known; 
Whereas, in 1843, Sojourner Truth declared that the Holy 
Spirit called on her to preach the truth, renaming herself 
Sojourner Truth; 
Whereas Sojourner Truth used her divinely inspired gift of 
speech to advocate for equal treatment of all persons, in-
cluding the right of all women to enjoy the same privi-
leges and immunities the Constitution bestowed upon 
men; 
Whereas the most famous expression of Sojourner Truth’s 
deeply held conviction that all women were entitled to 
equal treatment under the law came in her address at the 
Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio on May 29, 1851, 
in which she declared, ‘‘That man over there says that 
women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over 
ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody 
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ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or 
gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at 
me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and 
gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And 
ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much 
as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as 
well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen chil-
dren, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I 
cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard 
me! And ain’t I a woman?’’ and ‘‘If the first woman God 
ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside 
down all alone, these women together ought to be able to 
turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now 
they is asking to do it, the men better let them.’’; 
Whereas the enduring legacy of Sojourner Truth is her stead-
fast belief that all men and women are created equal— 
a refrain that is echoed in the ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech 
given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 
1963, by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; 
Whereas, in the 1850s, Sojourner Truth settled in Battle 
Creek, Michigan, where 3 of her daughters lived and con-
tinued to speak nationally and help to resettle slaves who 
had escaped to freedom; 
Whereas at the onset of the Civil War, Sojourner Truth 
urged free Black men to join the Union Army cause and 
worked to organize supplies for Black troops; 
Whereas after the Civil War, Sojourner Truth was honored 
with an invitation to the White House and became in-
volved with the Freedmen’s Bureau, helping freed slaves 
find jobs and build new and better lives; 
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Whereas Sojourner Truth continued her advocacy for human 
and civil rights for former slaves as she fought against 
de jure segregation; and 
Whereas, at 63 years of age, Sojourner Truth stood up to a 
streetcar conductor who tried to violently block her from 
riding, predating and modeling the courage of Rosa 
Parks, who less than 100 years later stood up for justice 
by sitting down: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the life of Sojourner Truth reflects the ex-
perience of millions of women of African descent 
brought to the Americas in violence and in violation 
of their human rights to be the progenitors of slaves, 
but who not only survived that existence but thrived 
to shape new paths to an awakening of how people 
view race and gender; 
(2) Sojourner Truth demonstrates the indomi-
table will of people everywhere who yearn to be free 
and overcome impossible odds to win freedom for 
themselves and others; and 
(3) Sojourner Truth reflects the best American 
tradition of using one’s courage and intellect to 
transcend societal limits to reinvent and renew the 
American Dream and pass it on to succeeding gen-
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