#olive gilbert

Dates -  14th October

Book Number of 2017 - 43 of 65

Synposis -

One of the most famous and admired African-American women in U.S. history, Sojourner Truth sang, preached, and debated at camp meetings across the country, led by her devotion to the antislavery movement and her ardent pursuit of women's rights. Born into slavery in 1797, Truth fled from bondage some 30 years later to become a powerful figure in the progressive movements reshaping American society.

This remarkable narrative, first published in 1850, offers a rare glimpse into the little-documented world of Northern slavery. Truth recounts her life as a slave in rural New York, her separation from her family, her religious conversion, and her life as a traveling preacher during the 1840s. She also describes her work as a social reformer, counselor of former slaves, and sponsor of a black migration to the West.

A spellbinding orator and implacable prophet, Truth mesmerized audiences with her tales of life in bondage and with her moving renditions of Methodist hymns and her own songs. Frederick Douglass described her message as a "strange compound of wit and wisdom, of wild enthusiasm, and flint-like common sense." This inspiring account of a black woman's struggles for racial and sexual equality is essential reading for students of American history, as well as for those interested in the continuing quest for equality of opportunity.

My thoughts

I wonder if Donald Trump has removed the bust of Sojouner Truth that Michelle Obama had placed in the White House? I hope he has not, because looking at that bust should remind us all of the struggles of slavery and that we are only 4 or 5 generations away from the story of Sojouner Truth and are still living today with the legacies of those times. 

This book was very, very short, clocking in at just 80 pages but the style of the prose, which I think was transcribed from Truth’s spoken vernacular by Gilbert into a book. However this made me read the book more slowly and take in the story and the hardships about being born a slave, becoming free upon the abolition in New York and her life after that. Unfortunately her later life and the transition from Isabelle Baumfree to Sojouner Truth, doesn’t get covered in as much detail as I would have liked and I think I will need to seek out a fuller biography of Truth to get a fuller story of her later life. 

However this should be a must read book for everyone.