[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 69 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5175-S5176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SOJOURNER TRUTH

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to salute an outstanding woman 
who spent the final days of her life in Michigan and will be buried in 
Battle Creek, MI. It is appropriate that my partner and colleague and 
friend, Senator Levin, is on the floor as well.
  I rise to salute a woman who was a pioneer, a patriot, a champion for 
equal rights, and a proud citizen of Michigan for the last 26 years of 
her life, Sojourner Truth. Last week she was honored with a bronze 
bust, a beautiful sculpture by Artis Lane, in Emancipation Hall in the 
Capitol Visitor Center.
  Sojourner Truth was an activist, someone we might call today a 
community organizer. She was active for civil rights and for women's 
rights. She was also a mother and a proud American.
  Born into slavery, as a young girl she learned only Dutch because 
that was the language that was spoken by her plantation owner. When she 
was only 9 years old, she was sold with a flock of sheep for $100 at an 
auction. Her new owner did not speak Dutch and beat her severely until 
she learned English. She did learn English, and quickly, but carried a 
subtle Dutch accent for the rest of her life.
  Eventually, she was married, not the man of her choice but the man of 
her master's choice, and had several children. Sojourner had secured a 
commitment from the plantation owner that if she worked hard and 
faithfully, she would be freed. When the State of New York, where she 
was at the time, began the process of emancipation, she approached the 
owner and asked him to honor her agreement. He refused.
  Infuriated, she went to work. She worked hard until she felt she had 
upheld her end of the bargain and then she walked away. She said: ``I 
did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing 
that to be all right.''
  She began working to free the rest of her family from slavery. When 
New York finally emancipated all of the slaves, Sojourner found, to her 
horror, that her 5-year-old son Peter had been illegally sold to a 
plantation in Alabama. She turned to her faith in God, as she had done 
when she endured the lash and as she would do as she continued her 
fight for equal rights.
  She turned to her friends in the religious community, especially the 
Quakers, who offered her comfort and counsel. She turned to the law, to 
that great promise of America, that liberty and justice are accessible 
to everyone.
  When her son, this little 5-year-old boy, her precious child, walked 
into the courtroom, Sojourner was stunned. Her tiny son had been abused 
with such cruelty; he had scars from head to toe. She cried out:

       See my poor child. Oh, Lord, render unto them double for 
     all of this!

  She won her case, a Black woman against a wealthy White man, a rare 
occurrence. Less than a year later, that same slaveholder, apparently 
without little Peter to beat up on, beat and killed his wife. On 
hearing the news, Sojourner was devastated. She realized her prayer had 
been answered, but she did not rejoice. She said: ``I did not mean 
quite so much, God.''
  Such character in this woman. Sojourner Truth stands out as someone 
who has been devoted to values we hold dear today: liberty, equality, 
justice, and also a deep compassion and sympathy for the suffering of 
others.
  She truly embodied the Christian principles of hope, love, and 
charity. She eventually came to live in a small religious community 
called Harmonia, located just outside Battle Creek, MI. There she 
preached the gospel and traveled around the country, giving speeches 
and fighting for the abolition of slavery and the rights of women.
  Sojourner helped recruit Black troops for the Union Army to end the 
scourge of slavery. She was a leader in her community, an elder, and a 
source of inspiration. She was a humanitarian, traveling to Kansas in 
her eighties to help the refugees who were fleeing discrimination in 
the South.

[[Page S5176]]

  She never lost her faith in God or in the inherent goodness of all 
people, no matter how awful they acted, no matter what terrible things 
they had done to her. In these trying times, she is truly an example of 
the kind of person we should all wish to be.
  I am proud she chose to make Michigan her home for the last 26 years 
of her life and her final resting place. We are a State full of 
fighters, with a spirit that gets us through tough times, which we 
certainly are facing today.
  I am pleased that as visitors come to the Capitol, as they enter 
Emancipation Hall, they can see Sojourner Truth as she was: A fighter, 
a spirited woman, a passionate civil rights leader, and a mother filled 
with compassion, a patriot, and the embodiment of the American ideal.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending 
unanimous consent agreement be modified so Senator Durbin can be 
recognized in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Gillibrand.) Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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