[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 29 (Thursday, February 15, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E369-E370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING SOJOURNER TRUTH

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 15, 2007

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, greetings to Senator 
Clinton, Dorothy Height, Dr. E. Faye Williams, Eleanor Smeal and Cicely 
Tyson.
  In this country's majestic Capitol rotunda sits a monument honoring 
three pioneers of the women's suffrage movement, which led to the women 
of our great Nation being granted the right to vote in 1920. The 
monument features the busts of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 
and Susan B. Anthony. As the Architect of the Capitol has noted, the 
monument was presented to the Capitol as a gift from the Women of the 
United States by the National Women's Party and was accepted on behalf 
of Congress by the Joint Committee on the Library on February 10, 1921. 
The unveiling ceremony was held in the rotunda on February 15, 1921, 
the 101st anniversary of the birth of Susan B. Anthony, and was 
attended by representatives of over 70 women's organizations. The 
committee authorized the installation of the monument in the crypt, 
where it remained until, by act of Congress in 1996, it was relocated 
to the Capitol rotunda in May 1997.
  In addition to the wonderful busts of Stanton, Mott, and Anthony, one 
of the interesting features of the monument is the existence of a large 
slab of stone that was never sculpted. Looking at the monument, it is 
clear that it was intended for a fourth person--another pioneer of the 
women's suffrage movement--to be sculpted. The legislation that myself 
and Senator Clinton along with Senator Specter crafted calls for 
Sojourner Truth to be that person.
  Born into slavery as one of the youngest of 13 children of James and 
Elizabeth in Hurley, which is in Ulster County, New York, in 
approximately 1797, Sojourner Truth's given name was Isabella Baumfree. 
Almost all of her brothers and sisters had been sold to other slave 
owners. Some of her earliest memories were of her parents' stories of 
the cruel loss of their other children.

  Isabella was sold several times to various slave owners and suffered 
many hardships under slavery, but throughout her life she maintained a 
deep and unwavering faith that carried her through many difficult 
times.

[[Page E370]]

  In 1817, the New York State Legislature passed the New York State 
Emancipation Act, which granted freedom to those enslaved who were born 
before July 4, 1799. Unfortunately, however, this law declared that 
many men, women, and children could not be freed until July 4, 1827, 10 
years later. While still enslaved and at the demand of her then owner, 
John Dumont, Isabella married an older slave named Thomas, with whom 
she had at least five children--Diane, Peter, Hannah, Elizabeth, and 
Sophia.
  As the date of her release came near--July 4, 1827--she learned that 
Dumont was plotting to keep her enslaved, even after the Emancipation 
Act went into effect. For this reason, in 1826, she ran away from the 
Dumont plantation with her infant child, leaving behind her husband and 
other children.
  She took refuge with a Quaker family--the family of Isaac Van 
Wagenen--and performed domestic work for them as well as missionary 
work among the poor of New York City. While working for the Van 
Wagenens, she discovered that a member of the Dumont family had sold 
her youngest son Peter to a plantation owner in Alabama. At the time, 
New York law prohibited the sale of slaves outside New York State and 
so the sale of Peter was illegal. Isabella sued in court and won his 
return. In doing so, she became the first black woman in the United 
States to take a white man to court and win.
  Isabella had always been very spiritual, and soon after being 
emancipated, she had a vision that affected her profoundly, leading 
her--as she later described it--to develop a ``perfect trust in God and 
prayer.'' In 1843, deciding her mission was to preach the word of God, 
Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth--her name for a traveling 
preacher, one who speaks the truth--and left New York. That summer she 
traveled throughout New England, calling her own prayer meetings and 
attending those of others. She preached ``God's truth and plan for 
salvation.''
  After months of travel, she arrived in Northampton, Massachusetts, 
and joined the Northampton Association for Education and Industry, 
where she met and worked with abolitionists such as William Lloyd 
Garrison, Frederick Douglas, and Olive Gilbert.
  As we know, during the 1850s, slavery became an especially heated 
issue in the United States. In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave 
Law, which allowed runaway slaves to be arrested and jailed without a 
jury trial, and in 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott case 
that those enslaved had no rights as citizens and that the government 
could not outlaw slavery in the new territories.
  Nevertheless, these extraordinarily difficult times did not stop 
Sojourner Truth from continuing her mission. Her life story--``The 
Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave''--written with the help 
of friend Olive Gilbert, was published in 1850.
  While traveling and speaking in States across the country, Sojourner 
Truth met many women abolitionists and noticed that although women 
could be part of the leadership in the abolitionist movement, they 
could neither vote nor hold public office. It was this realization that 
led Sojourner to become an outspoken supporter of women's rights.
  In 1851, she addressed the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 
delivering her famous speech ``Ain't I a Woman?'' The applause she 
received that day has been described as ``deafening.'' From that time 
on, she became known as a leading advocate for the rights of women. 
Indeed, she was one of the nineteenth century's most eloquent voices 
for the cause of anti-slavery and women's rights.
  By the mid-1850s, Truth had earned enough money from sales of her 
popular autobiography to buy land and a house in Battle Creek, 
Michigan. She continued her lectures, traveling to Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, 
Illinois, and Wisconsin. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, she 
visited black troops stationed near Detroit, Michigan, and offered 
encouragement. After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, she worked 
in Washington as a counselor and educator for those who had been 
previously enslaved through the Freedman's Relief Association and the 
Freedmen's Hospital. It was during this time--in October 1864--that she 
met with President Abraham Lincoln.
  Throughout the 1870s, Sojourner Truth continued to speak on behalf of 
women and African Americans. Failing health, however, soon forced 
Sojourner to return to her Battle Creek, Michigan, home, where she died 
on November 26, 1883.
  Friends, this brief recounting of Sojourner Truth's life story only 
begins to speak of her faith, courage, intelligence, and steadfastness 
in the face of extraordinary circumstances and volatile times in our 
Nation's history. Though she could neither read nor write, her 
eloquence commanded the attention of thousands of Americans, both black 
and white. It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that among her 
many friends, admirers and staunch supporters were Frederick Douglass, 
Amy Post, Olive Gilbert, Parker Pillsbury, Mrs. Francis Gage, Wendell 
Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Laura Haviland, Lucretia Mott, and 
Susan B. Anthony.
  The legislation we introduced pays tribute to Sojourner Truth.

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