>> university of mary washington history professor claudia farrell discusses the life and legacy of sojourner truth, an enslaved woman who self-emancipated in 1826 and became a speaker on abolition and women's rights. the video is courtesy of the university from their great lives lecture series. >> born in san antonio, clouding farrell received her ba from southwest texas state college, now texas state university and taught in beaumont for three years before entering the doctoral program at rice university, where she focused on american legal and constitutional history and african-american history. her dissertation was on the unsuccessful effort to pass a federal law against lynching in

1917-1922. a year kansas state university was followed by her coming to fredericksburg and he then mary washington college. at umw she teaches legal, constitutional, and african-american history as well as an array of courses including the gilded age, the progressive era, united states and vietnam, the u.s. since 1945, america's small wars, the american home front during the world wars, and american disasters, in addition to the two course methods sequence for majors in history. she is currently chair of the department of history in american studies. it is my pleasure to introduce dr. clouding farrell. -- claudine ferrell. dr. ferrell: first i want to

thank dr. bill crawley for the series and for the opportunity to replace him and mary washington, but as everyone knows there is no replacing bill crawley. i also -- i also want to thank s power for sponsoring this lecture. i am talking about sojourner truth, an unusual and unique woman, beyond anybody's measure, an impressive one. to what to great was she these things is impossible to know, for reasons i will emphasize today. like most former slaves, even frederick douglass, who wrote and spoke extensively, the are details about her life, we do not know. that i think in many ways she did not know. certainly, we were details about her life she refused to share,

and i will be discussing those as well. she comes to us largely through the lens of whites, of white america, friend and foe, supporters and opponents, people curious and judgmental, to people who actually knew her and then people who met her in passing. for whatever reason, she ensured that was the case. she clearly spoke her mind. we know that. we have enough to indicate that. she did that over at least half her 86 years. she walked over much of this country. she did verbal battles with some of the most important add skilled debaters of the time. so we know a lot about her. but it still pretty much comes from white audiences. from white photographers, but

newspaper reporters, allies, opponents and it comes in a way that represents the racial thinking of the time. this was a time period of racism, also sexism and classism. it also comes from us, and how we interpret what we hear, what we read about sojourner truth. in this day and age, we want a strong woman. we want a strong black woman. and she certainly in many ways can fit that bill. we need to remember while many states by the mid-1800s, had abolished slavery, and then after 1865 with the 13th amendment, the entire country was free of slavery. racial thinking, racism, was alive and well. it was supported by 19th century

science, religion, history, society. the woman we know as sojourner truth, lived and preached in this time. that limited what she, as a woman, as a black, is a former slave, could do, and how she was perceived. that affected how she thought and spoke and lived, and how her story has become known to us. so, who was sojourner truth? she is freedom, to some, who visit the many monuments to hurt throughout the u.s.. she is also liberty, and equal rights, for african-americans, for women. she has assertiveness, and pride. she is, without doubt, an

impressive woman debater, speaker, storyteller. she is an inspiration. she combined hard work, opportunities to speak, many of which he created herself, her story -- many of which she created herself, with some gaps, additions, god's message, even her striking physical appearance and voice. enough to have a congresswoman's cat named after her, a mars roseburg -- rover bear her chosen name, innumerable children's books and paper dolls, a biography by one of the nation's most respected historians, a google doodle, a day in her honor in the state she adopted, statues, museums, memorials dedicate to her words, dedicated to her actions -enough

to indicate the importance of what she accomplished in her 86 years, or her103-105 years because she gave different times and everyone assumes she is older than what she was. she got look or sound or behave the way women or slaves or free blacks were supposed to. and it was more than about her causes, which were abolitionism and equal rights after that, and women's rights. two 1800s white americans she was unfeminine, exotic, and not in a positive way, deviant, she was discussing, a curiosity, grotesque. these aren't all terms used to describe her in the 1850's and 1860's -- these are all terms used to describe her in the 1850's and 1860's. she violated norms for blacks and for women. although until she quote walked to a quote from slavery --

although she walked away, her term, from slavery [--] she was assertive, witty, she controlled attention, she should be up here right now. she asserted her freedom and her views, all of which she shared with god. she spoke to white audiences. she spoke to women and men. she initiated lawsuit, to free her son, to sue a white couple who slandered her, to charge a conductor with assault and battery. she had much to prove. she one lawsuit. she was arrested more than once. she attempted to vote. she petitioned congress, or tried to. she met presidents - three, in fact. she rose, dictated her biography. she supported herself to her physical labor and through her photographs. she reinvented herself.

through all of this, she was illiterate. the story of sojourner truth begins a couple centuries before her. begins in colonial new netherland. what you have on the screen are a couple of images that show you where the dust settled in the 16 20's, and what new amsterdam, their headquarters, in modern-day manhattan. within a couple of years, slaves started arriving from africa. these slaves cleared land, split logs, milled lumber. they built works. -- wharfs. you can see the need for them. roads, and fortifications. in some cases they were allowed to be have free, on their own for most of the air, but working for the colony -- year, but

working for the colony when needed. they were seen as integral to the colony but also unequal and exploited. the english came, 40-50 years later, and that is the beginning of new york. that is where sojourner truth grew up, and that is where she spent a good part of her life. not mississippi, not alabama, not virginia, not the typical southern slave states. with the english came more restrictions. came limitations on blacks being free. came some negatives. came fear of black uprisings. came the slave market, and new york was a major slave market at the time. what did the slaves do their -- there? mainly around new york and counties nearby. they did farming. there were house servants.

there were manufacturing workers. they had skilled jobs. there were goldsmiths, silversmiths, shoemakers, blacksmiths. they did a little bit of everything that required skill, and many jobs that do not require skill. he also served on ships. one of sojourner truth's sons would sell away on a willing vessel. -- whaling vessel. by 1700, 11% of new york was black, african. that percentage of -- that percentage would go up and they go down, affected by the american revolution. as images here demonstrate, africans, african americans, they were kind of developing the use of that label, but on both sides. they influenced a lot of

thinking that was already starting to change by that time. they were raising issues themselves and their white supporters, of how could the americans complain about british enslavement of the colonies when the colonials themselves were enslaving people? so you have natural rights philosophy starting to grow more and more. you also have the changes that came with the freedom granted african, african-american slaves who fought for either sides and you have economic changes coming at this time of the country's history, not just in virginia which will shift more and more from tobacco to wheat and other grains. but throughout the country, were white laborers started to assume more of the jobs now that there were fewer slaves in those areas. the result was that, increasingly in new york, where, once before, one out of -- there

was one slave per seven white new yorkers. now, there was one per 12 white new yorkers. new yorkers started to think about more and more, as did other colonies, now states, that slavery had to end. the complication of that, of course, is you end slavery but still have a large inferior population, that you do not particularly respect or want, or believe deserves the same rights and opportunities that you do. as you can see from this map, new york is titled with having abolished or ended slavery, in 1799. that, in fact, is two years after sojourner truth was born. and that is going to have an effect on her and her family. because, what we see here in new york, is that they had a substantial number of slaves, as late as 1790. and if you look at this and see

the highlighted area, from new york, new york slave population was fairly substantial, up until the time abolition actually truly existed in new york. because new york passed and abolition law, that said, if a child was born to a woman who was enslaved after july 4, 1799, that child would be free. it was a male child it would be free in 28 years. if it was a female child, she would be free in 25 years. the mother, and siblings come aboard before that date, they were still slave. that was new york's first attempt. and sojourner truth was born before that date. and her children will be born, after that date. so, in theory, there are a lot

of slaves in new york including sojourner truth and her family. i will explain her name was not sojourner truth at this time. she was born, and ulster county, new york. on the farm of colonel hardin berg. she had five owners in her lifetime. she spent the longest time with john dumont, her last owner, she spent about 16 years of him. when she left, she was 28-29. so you can see, most of her time as a young teenager and young adult, was with john dumont and his wife, sally. isabella bumfrey, or belle bumfrey, grew up in this part of new york, a dutch part of new york.

so if you ever hear somebody giving one of sojourner truth's talks, and has a pretty heavy maybe alabama or mississippi, southern slave dialect, it is wrong. she had struggles, actually, switching from dutch to english. an english begin her primary language. but there are certain different -- but there are certainly difficulties imagining her speaking if you imagine her as it southern slave -she was a northern woman, she was that new yorker. that affected a lot of her troubles and her thinking. she was one of perhaps 12 children, perhaps the youngest, perhaps the next youngest. she grew very tall and we will get to that in a little bit. and she was seen as an extremely hard-working, indispensable, trustworthy young woman. apparently, she saw her lot in life as a slave, as one that she

took very seriously. that the white adults, the whites who owned and controlled and beat her, and abused her, that they were god. they were her small world, her existence. she might have gotten in trouble now and then. she liked, apparently, to drink if she should could get some liquor, and to smoke, which he continue to do most of her life. but she was a hard worker who took her responsibilities very seriously. and that is something that historians have tried to figure out. how that affected her, in the rest of her life? at what point, did she develop self-confidence, the reinvention of this capable, strong, self-confident woman? because, it did not exist from all the stories she tells, in her narrative, which he published in 1850, when she was

about 53 years old. about who she was, growing up. we know from her narrative that john dumont beat her. apparently, he care deeply about her. but he beat her. there is no evidence that he sexually abused her or anything like that. the evidence of that is apparently in relation to his wife. in her narrative, sojourner truth refers to things that she cannot name, things that were unnatural and abhorrent, that happened with sally dumont. and she did not talk about that. scholars have speculated fairly seriously, that she was sexually abused by this is dumont. and there was-- mrs. dumone. t. and that there was a fairly deep anger and hatred of her. no one sally dumont was dying,

sojourner truth was there to take care of her, as responsibility. mr. dumont often praised her for being stronger, more capable and more hard-working than any man he ever had working on the farm, both slave and free. she, though, had some calling from god. it was in this early time, that she set up a kind of meditation place. there was a little island in the middle of a stream surrounded by willows. she would go there to talk to god. she would go there to communicate. she would go there - in some ways, i suspect -simply to get through her existence. what happened was, when she was probably 15 or 16 years old, she had a romantic relationship with a young slave, from another farm. the owner of that slave, the owner of the other farm, broke it off, and apparently almost beat the young men to death to

keep him away. so, isabella, isabel, then married - which new york law allowed, a young man on her own -- a young slave on her own plantation, sorry, her own farm, and bore five children. historians believe they were all her husband's, thomas. they believe come but they are not 100% sure because of the timing, and because there is a missing child. we know things that happened with her son, peter, because she goes to court, to protect him, and she takes him to new york city with her later. we know about her three daughters, diana, elizabeth, and sophia, because they wind up spending many years with her, much later in life. we do not know about a fifth child. was this a boy who died? was this a daughter that she introduces later?

because there is evidence that introduced another young woman as her daughter. we do not know. we do not know for sure who the father is, particularly of the first two children. was that the young man, who was beaten and sent away? was it thomas? potentially, was that john dumont, who i do not think anybody seriously thinks that. anyway, what makes the story interesting is the control that isabel took. agreement with john dumont, is that because of all her hard work, she would be free in 1826, ahead of a new new york law. in 1817, new york passed another law and said in 1827, we are done with slavery. that is that, you are now free, you do not have to wait that extra time. that meant, sojourner isabel would be free. her deal with john dumont's she would be free earlier.

he reneged on the deal. he said, because she injured her right hand earlier, and had not been able to do as much work, that she could not get off, she had not done the work necessary to earn that. her solution, as she put it, was to walk away. so she took her youngest daughter, sophia, newly born, and left. enter explanation for that is fairly straightforward -- and her explanation for that is fairly straightforward. the slaveholders are terrible for promising to give you this and that if you do thus and so. and when the time of fulfillment comes, and one claims the promise date, forced to recollect nothing of the kind. and you are, like as not, taunted with being a liar, or, at best, the slave is accused of not having performed his part or condition of the contract. well, interestingly enough, when isabel left with sophia, she

wound up at the home of a white couple, the bandwagon meant, -- van waggonens, whose name she takes for a while. and they wind up paying john dumont, to secure her freedom and avoid problems with that. so what you have is this young woman changing her name as he redefines, still at a fairly halting way, her identity, from isabella baumrfree, to isabella then wagenen, to isabel. an fairly down the line, she changes her name to the name we all know about her. so, the question is raised about what happened in those years? because we pretty much know what

happens after 1850. in 1850 she starts her public life, her walking, preaching, showing up at conferences. her being reported on the newspapers, her meeting with president that is going to follow. we know about those things. but what happened in the time in between? well, in this early period, she moved to kingston, new york and we know she was working there. she did a lot of domestic work, often for fairly well-to-do white families he became fairly important to her in terms of certifying her dependability. not for jobs, necessarily, which did apply, but for some of the legal action she needed to take. she did decide to move with her son peter to new york. and she left the girls, being taken care of by others, in ulster county.

she, increasingly, started preaching, at camp meetings, and on street corners, and i will get to that in the second. in new york, she lived outside the black community, if there was one. new york at this time had a couple hundred thousand people and did not have any concentrated area of black population like we are going to see early in the next century, in harlem. she also joined a cult, the kingdom of morpheus --matthias. what happens in the next period, and there are things that change after she changes her name in 1843. she starts preaching more broadly and decides to share her story. as many ex slaves and former slaves were doing at this time. one of the major stories about her, in the early period, was the fact that this young woman

-illiterate, uneducated - walked much of new york, as she went to find help. because her baby boy, peter, who was only six or seven years old, had been illegally sold. new york law prohibited the selling or movement of slave -- a black south side new york, in order to avoid the emancipation law. he had been sold by john dumont to his brother and to another and another, and wanda being taken to alabama, by up -- and wound up being taken to alabama by a plantation owner. it's about what you john dumont 's wife and pleaded with her, went to the alabama plantation owner before she headed to alabama, she was from new york, and pleaded with her. and they gave this 'slave woma'' no consideration at all, as a mother, which, apparently really fired up isabel.

and she was able to get legal help. it took a year. it was in this courthouse to judge ruled the child along with his mother, and nobody else. it was traumatic for her, because when she was first -- when peter was first brought back to her, he had been so traumatized by, what, to him, had been presented as his mother's abandonment, that he screamed and claimed she was not his mother. it took a while, before that trauma of slavery -she also discovered more trauma -he was bruised and scarred and clearly have been beaten, whipped and brutalized, down in alabama, in that just that short time. isabel kind of lost it and kind of did a curse for what had happened, you know the damage that have been done to her son should be doubled for those who did it. and, sadly, she found out soon

afterward, that the wife of the planter had herself been beaten to death, by her husband in alabama. so, there's a lot of trauma that went with this story. but she did get her son, peter. and he will remain with her until he is about 19 years old. and apparently a bit of a wild child, a rebellious teenager. one of the black leaders in new york recommended, like a lot of young men at that time, he needed to get his act together, and they often sent young men out to see on the ships and that would help them toughen up and you know turn their lives around and so that is what peter did. she got letters from him for a while, i think it was five letters, and she never heard from him again. so there is no ending to that story, we really do not know what happened. then, there is the kingdom of matthias.

if you want to read a scandalous book, you can read a book on the kingdom of matthias. this was a kind of out of success struggling carpenter who presented himself as a prophet, presented himself as jesus christ, presented himself in different ways and was able to get some wealthy people to give him money and give them property and the property was just about 30 miles north of new york in what is now sing sing, or where the sing sing prison was. it was being built around this time. he collected a variety of people, including isabel, who worked for him and apparently did a lot of heavy, difficult work, was beaten, again. this is part of when historians see her still struggling, to reframe herself. to re--see herself as somebody

who does not deserve that. and that is not a natural part of how she should be treated, or how anybody should be treated. what makes this story particularly useful for her -- he turned this cult into kind of a sex cult. he assigned people different partners. she apparently was safe from that. she just wanted doing more and more work, as a result of these sexual relationships that were going on. one of the men, who was involved, died. there were accusations he had been poisoned. matthias was charged with the murder, and because isabel was a supporter of him, she was accused of being part of this murder. and she decided that her her name, that it hurt her. so she was able with some friends and with the testimony of john dumont, among other

whites, to see the people who made the accusation. and she won the lawsuit. $ nt one125, which --and she won $125, which to us, in the mid-1830's is probably the equivalent of at least $10,000, depending on how you computer it and maybe closer to $100,000, in terms of how it placed you in the economic scale. so this was a big moment for her, to assert -earlier, her mother had, -- motherhood. and now, to assert her good name. because she had to testify. but blacks were not perceived to be honorable, trustworthy, people who undergrowth, tell the truth. so she had to get this

validation, from the many whites that she knew. and she got money and support for all of this from them as well. but the speculation is, these cases are adding up for her, has something she needs, to redefine herself, as a result of. so, what happens, is, in 1843, at the tail end of this, she makes a decision to change her name. by this point, too, she has become increasingly involved with elements of what is called the second great awakening. a lot of direct, personal rethinking of one's connection with god. a lot of communication, a lot of preaching, a lot of cap revivals , a lot of in many cases, yelling and physical demonstrations. it was part, for her, of an element of methodism, because

she was a methodist. it was part of a direction called, perfectionism, a strand of this at the time, which emphasized plane living, plain dress -which she will carry on for the rest of her life including the bonnet, the turbine. it also involves listening to the spirit, the holy spirit, and conveying him, which some people didn't and very rousing, disruptive camp meetings, which distressed her and she did not go for that at all. but it emphasized purification. it emphasized any corruption. dachshund emphasized ending correct -- it emphasized ending corruption. that was a very important part for her. she argued she had been called by spirit to leave new york city, which he defined as a wicked city. maybe, we all might think of new york in that way, but there was

a wickedness to this city and she had to leave, and she left. she started going and meeting people she left -- he had met before, -- she started meeting people she had met before and going to revivals in new england. i was so you a map of places she went. this is a woman who went where she thought she was needed. that need meant she was going to preach. if she was going to preach the truth, and if she was going to travel to do it, then, sojourner truth. sojourner is somebody who stays in a place briefly. as somebody who visits it and leaves. it is not a resident, it is a sojourner. somebody who sojourns is going to stay in different places, not in one place. for her, the idea is you told the truth. she will emphasized that over and over throughout her life. so, sojourner truth. often just, sojourner, for a lot

of people. this is the beginning of her travels. i found a later map, this is 1880. it does show some of the place she went and some of the states developing, as she was traveling because not all of them existed initially. she was going into some of these brand-new states or territories. she winds up living and dying, her death is in michigan. she travels a lot, most of this is through walking. this was a strong woman even when she was injured. she refused to take things easy and even refused to be stopped. she tried to go into indiana after indiana passed a law. the audit did not have slavery but did indiana do not want black -- indiana did not have slavery but indiana did not want blacks. so indiana stopped a lot refusing to allow blacks to move into the state. she refused to let that stop her

and was arrested as a result. she kept struggling. she dressed plainly, an apron, a shawl, bonnet, turbine, simple dresses, generally. what she presented people, and you can tell by her image, she is very dark. she was often defined as, not a mixed african-american like frederick douglass, for example that she was a true african. we do not know anything really beyond her parents. but, some struggled to deal with her. she clearly was not a lady in the way mid-19th century ladies, meaning white and middle and upper-class ladies, were. she did not behave that way. she spoke out in public. she laughed. she sang. she was tall. her walk was very firm. she just did not meet the image of what she was supposed to be.

which made her, some have argued, less threatening, and more likely to be listened to. but also, maybe, not to be taken seriously. so she was a combination there, struggling with this. the average slave, based on some ship records, female, was 5'3", the average man, 5'7". today in the united states, the average woman is 5'4", not much difference. sojourner truth was six feet tall. so she really stood out. not just among women, but among men. and she had a strong, kind of course boys. -- course voice. she was emphatic when she wanted to make her point. and then, she was selling her narrative. in 1850, she decided she needed to sell her story, to tell her story, as many freed slaves, runaway slaves, had done,

frederick douglass, being the most famous of them. so she dictated this. remember, she was illiterate. she cannot read or write. in fact, that is the only writing we have of her. that, apparently, is forever to write her name. that is all we have. the question is, what was happening here? our suggestions maybe she had a learning disability, maybe some birth defect or injury or something, but she made it a point of emphasizing she could not read or write in windows who tried to explain -- and there were those who try to explain what was going on early in her life i she did not learn. there were efforts to teach her by some children, and they said she just did not get it, there are something not connecting

with her, whether obstinacy or some disability. but she dictated. in the question might also be, how did she know so much about the bible? because she refers to the bible a lot. she tended to have children read the bible to her. apparently, if an adult read the bible, and she asked him to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it, so she could really understand, they started adding their own commentary. they started adding their clarification. she did not want that. she said children were as patient as could be, they would read it over and over to her, so she finally could register it and remember at. -- it. but, for her narrative, she dictated this to a white friend of hers. and, this woman, olive gilbert, put it together, with commentary , and those are explicit. this is going to be the base of what we know about sojourner truth. later in life after the civil

war, additional additions will be published some of those later editions, will include her scrapbook. think she collected over time, that added and clarified her story, from 1850 on. but this is what we have. so, anything about her personal insight as a slave, or for years afterwards, when she does not want to say, comes from this. to give you some ideas of what this woman was talking about, i'm going to read you some things that appeared in the newspapers of the time. sojourner truth, the poor old slave woman, reviewed the previous sermon, with the power of discrimination. i never in my life saw exceeded if equaled. in the terrible crucible of her criticism, she melted it down and down, until it was shown to be nothing to the purpose and all.

although unable to read one word, she exhibited a power of rude but keen analysis, such as most professional critics must covet in vain. one of the most famous abolitionist speaker said her appeal is not -- her appeals not infrequently electrify the congregation. sojourner truth commenced the evening meeting by brief remarks and at intervals joined the convention and would lend a helping hand, presenting in quite homely form truths, that will perchance be remembered longer than if they had been clothed in the most elegant language. sojourner truth let often words that skated, -- scathed, like lightning. she would throw in the way of politicians and ugly difficulty, an argument with premise, conclusion and application, and a single question.

-- in a single question. she made one of our short choice speeches full of rich thoughts marked by confiding faith and truth under ernest love of humanity. if there was no other count in the indictment against slavery done this, then it had doomed such a soul as hers to the long, robberies and sorrows of slavery, it were enough. enough to do with the policy of any church or party that should consent to such an outrage, upon a human soul. a couple more. sojourner truth, a colored woman, once a slave, spoke and gratified her audience highly. she showed, beneath her dark skin and uncommonly exterior, there was a true womanly heart. she entered truths that told well. she said, woman set the world wrong by eating forbidden fruit, now she would set it right. she said, goodness never had any

but beginnings excuse me, it was never lasting and could never die. but even had a beginning and must have an end. she expressed great reverence for god and faith he would bring about his own purposes and plans. she had a meeting with frederick douglass, who did not think all that well of her uncultured speaking and behavior and all that. but, he was talking about his pessimism about the future of america, about black america. her response was, is god dead? like, he will take care of it. is god dead? that will be on her tombstone. with her long, bony arm, she presents an appearance at once grotesque and ludicrous and yet inspiring a degree of respect that commands attention. she carries not a tongue of fire, but the heart of love. she did not support herself by

these speeches. she would just sometimes just show up, sometimes was invited. she supported herself by being there and telling her narrative, and later, by selling her portrait. this was a period of what some of the calls card-o-mania. these calling cards with her portrait. on it, it refers to the fact that she sells the shadow to support the substance. so, she sells the shadow, the image of her, to support her in her life. probably come most famous for this woman who, certainly, had to be a striking presence for most people, was her involvement, not just with the effort to argue against slavery, but the effort for women's rights. and she is certainly well-known for that, along with elizabeth cady stanton and others of the women's effort for suffrage in

the 19th century. but most famous was her so-called aren't i a woman, or ain't i a woman? speech. in ohio, at the women's rights conference, it is a mix of slavery and women's rights. allegedly, she said, that men over there says 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 gives me any best place, and ain't i a woman? look at me, look at my arm, i have plowed and planted and gather into barns and no man could had me and ain't i a woman? i can work as much and eat as much as a man, when i can get it , and bear the lash as well, and ain't i a woman? i have borne 13 women, her report of what she said, and seemed most also to slavery. when i cried out with my mother's grief, none but jesus heard me.

and ain't i a woman? the problem with the speeches we do not know what she really said. that goes back to the white audiences i was talking about. the person who recorded, or for the newspaper, her speech, had a fairly short version of it. years later,, i think it was the president of the association, presented a much longer version -substantially longer. and we tend to go with the much longer version. it is a much more emphatic, demanding, in-your-face sojourner truth. but, it also seems to have more of a purpose for the women's rights movement. the woman was a major women's rights activist. so, it was the story distorted, was information changed? also, when you listen to this

speech on youtube or wherever, you do tend to get a southern accent to it. a real slave emphasis, where you almost see the cotton fields and what one group has tried to do is find woman who speak dutch, and then have them.read at dear english speakers, -- have them read it. there english speakers with a dutch background. to get more authenticity. to have the record parts of the speech. i have a short clip. this is what i was reading to you. you get this repetition of it. let's see if this works. [video clip] >> well, children, where there is so much record, there must be

something out of kilter, i think twixt the new gross of the south and the women at the north, all talking about rights, the white men will be and affix pretty soon. what is all this here talking about? that man over there says women need to be helped into carriages , and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place, everywhere. nobody ever helps me into a carriage, or over mud puddles, or gives me the best place. ain't i a woman? [audio recording end] dr. ferrell: this is part of the mystery of sojourner truth. what did she say? how did she sound? what was her emphasis? why was she there? not just invitation or not of attention, but what was her intent for all of this? what was she trying to get across?

because what happens after the 1850 narrative and beyond it she is a crusader for a lot of things. that includes, after the civil war or during the civil war, for the union. and after the civil war, for the free people, who now are crowding the streets of washington, d.c., for example. that she helps care for, what is going to be their fate? are they going to be dependents on the government? what is going to happen to them? that is when she puts together a petition to try to get congress -- and she travels all of her walking to get signatures -- to provide land in the west for them. she also meets with abraham lincoln. as i have up there, this is not a photograph, obviously, it is a painting, done. we do know though, that she met with lincoln. the problem is, we do not know, like her, 'ain't i a woman' speech, what exactly happens

there? her account of it is very positive. that link it shook her hand, that lincoln was very positive to her. that she thanked him for emancipating the slaves and he said no, do not give me credit, others deserve it, too, in effect. and she said, you know, well, you're important to me. and i have heard of you for a long time. and he says, i have heard of you, too. the story from the white woman, who got her the meeting with lincoln, indicates lincoln was quite the opposite of all of that, he was not friendly and was fairly sour when he met with her, he called her, auntie, a standard term for older black women. he clearly, according to this woman, who was called back and after sojourner truth was quickly ushered out, did not want to talk about the emancipation proclamation, did

not want to discuss this with a black woman. so we get two stories again and it is difficult to know what is going on. we do know what happened with her petition. she never got it to congress. but the so-called exodusters, of the 1870's did what she wanted, they moved. african-americans moved west, and set up their own farms and build their own homes, and saw protection and help, on their own. four sojourner truth, she winds up in michigan. i remember the first time i ran into that. i was going, michigan? why michigan? she was invited there by quakers. and apparently she really liked this utopian village, harmonia, outside the small town of battle creek. she wound up buying land there,, in battle creek, and settling

there, as did her daughters and their husbands and children, and all of that. and it was in battle creek that she died in 1883, at the age of 86, not 103, not 105, as her team to stone --tombstone indicates. in her comment, is god dead? not, ain't i a woman? i think she probably would like better to have. got on the tombstone with her that, in some way seems like an abrupt end to a woman's life that was more than abrupt. i would like to think of sojourner truth is one of these women - because black women have played major roles in american history, where those roles are generally not public, not national, not studied.

obviously these women indicate there are exceptions. these are women who made their mark in education, and government, in business, and civil rights movements, in many ways. she certainly fits with them. but, for most of these women, you may not recognize all of them, but these really were and are influential women of their times. when sojourner truth died, to the misfortune, -- titumus fortune, an up-and-coming journalist and editor says although the name of sojourner truth is familiar to many people, not one color person of 10 knows who she has. i would say the same is true today. the complication in many ways that she was a northerner, not a southerner. she did not escape slavery, she walked away.

she did not escape slavery like harriet tubman, she walked away from slavery. she went to court. she sang songs. she gave speeches. she stopped debate dead in our tracks, with her focused comments. so i think i am not the only one in the country who is still a little bit lost about who sojourner truth really was. but one thing we all know: that she thought battles. battles in her internal life, battles with her family, battles with society. she thought battles. -- she thought battles -- she fought battles. she and others fought battles. for her rights, for her life, and for her country. >> you're watching american

history tv. every weekend, on c-span3. created by america's cable television companies and brought to by these companies who provide american history tv to viewers as a public service. ♪ >> located in southern colorado, fort lewis indian school operated from 1892- its purpose 1911. was to assimilate indigenous children to mainstream american society, by separating them from their families. fort lewis college professor majel boxer gave the history of the boarding school and describes the physical and mental effects it had on its students. this is from the borderlands of southern colorado lecture series and history colorado provided the video. >> good evening. my name is erik with history