Sojourner Truth (On My Own Biography)

Rating:
Summary: SOJOURNER TRUTH, A BLESSING TO GENERATIONS
Review: Gwenyth Swain's thoughtful new book "Sojourner Truth" is for beginner readers. It seems appropriate that children learning to read be paired with stories of those who lived so courageously.

Isabelle was born probably in 1799 to slave parents who were owned by Dutch New Yorkers. She did not learn to read until she became free some 29-30 years later. "Bell" suffered the indignities of being sold over & over, but grew tall and formidable. She worked hard at tasks better suited to men, yet endured many beatings. Her yearning for freedom led her to run away:

"She wouldn't wait for Master to free her.
She wouldn't wait for the State of New York to free her.
Before Master awoke, Bell slipped away.
She found freedom."

And, oh, what she did with it! She gave herself the name SOJOURNER TRUTH because she believed that God had called her to preach against slavery & to bring equality to women. She traveled "up an' down the land" speaking out for Freedom & Truth. In 1850 she published her own story: "Narrative of Sojourner Truth"! She died in 1883.

Gwenyth Swain's prose has a fluidity that is poetic in telling about a woman who was frequently wronged but spoke in a strong voice of "an even stronger faith." An author who has also written about the 'president of the underground railroad' Levi Coffin, and Mary Church Terrell, an early civil rights activist, her website is a popular destination . . . especially early each month when a different *free book* is announced.

Reviewer mcHAIKU echoes Gwenyth Swain who wrote that "Sojourner Truth was an unstoppable inspiration to people . . . in her time & ever since."