In 1843, obeying what she said was the voice of
God, ex-slave Isabella Van Wagener changed her name
to Sojourner Truth and set out to become an itinerant
preacher. Soon, her skillful sparring on biblical
interpretation won her wide respect on the revival
circuit and, at the same time, brought her to the
attention of abolitionists. By 1850 she was a much-celebrated
speaker for the antislavery movement. In serving
that cause, this tall, spare black woman dressed
in plain, Quakerlike garb entranced audiences with
her quick wit and simple speech. Of her impact,
fellow abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe once remarked
that she could not recall meeting “any one
who had more of that silent and subtle power which
we call personal presence.”
As a lecturer after the Civil War, Truth divided
her energies between speaking out for female suffrage,
championing the rights of African Americans, and
urging temperance. To finance her speaking tours,
she sold copies of her ghostwritten autobiography
and photographs of herself, such as the one seen
here.
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