Sojourner Truth Begins National Abolitionist Speaking Tour

Isabella Van Wagenen, who had legally emancipated herself in 1827 when New York abolished slavery, renamed herself Sojourner Truth and began traveling as an itinerant preacher and abolitionist speaker. She joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, met Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, and dictated her Narrative (1850) to Olive Gilbert. Her distinctive preaching style — combining scripture, humor, and personal testimony — drew large crowds.