[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 13 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 13

         Commemorating the life and legacy of Sojourner Truth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2021

Ms. Jackson Lee 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 continuing into 
        adolescence, was bought and sold 4 times and bore at least 5 children, 
        but lived to overcome her hardscrabble beginning to become one of the 
        most famous 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 
        husband Dr. Isaac Van Wagener;
Whereas for twenty dollars the Van Wageners bought Sojourner 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, including the right of all women to 
        enjoy the same privileges 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 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 children, 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 steadfast 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 continued 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 involved with the Freedmen's Bureau, helping 
        freed slaves find jobs and build new and better lives;
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 Representatives 
that--
            (1) the life of Sojourner Truth reflects the experience 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 indomitable 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 generations endowing them with the freedom to 
        unleash their imagination and pursue their dreams.
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