[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COMMEMORATING THE 5TH ANNUAL SOJOURNER TRUTH LIFE WALK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PATRICK RYAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 15, 2024

  Mr. RYAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the 5th annual Sojourner 
Truth Life Walk, happening this Saturday, February 17th, at Kingston 
Plaza in Kingston, N.Y.
  Truth was an advocate for civil and women's rights, abolition, and 
temperance. Born in Ulster County, NY, in my district, Sojourner Truth 
endured the brutal and violent punishments of slavery. In 1826, a year 
before New York's abolition law went into effect, she and her young 
daughter ran away to the household of an abolitionist family in New 
Paltz, New York. Truth became the first Black woman to sue a white man 
and win, after her son was illegally sold to a plantation owner in 
Alabama.
  Truth joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, 
an abolitionist organization, where she launched her activist career.
  In 1851, at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention, Sojourner Truth spoke 
powerfully about equal rights for Black women and her experience, as an 
emancipated Black woman living in America. Her speech moved audiences 
and captured the attention of many.
  As I commemorate her life on Saturday with the Kingston community, I 
would like to thank the organizers of the event, Black History Month 
Kingston, My Kingston Kids, Harambee, the City of Kingston, and 
Seasoned Gives, and all they have done to put this together. Their work 
has not gone unnoticed.

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