Sojourner Truth Begins National Abolitionist Speaking Tour

Isabella Van Wagenen, who had legally emancipated herself in New York in 1827, renamed herself Sojourner Truth and began traveling as an itinerant preacher and abolitionist speaker. She joined the Northampton Association, met Douglass and Garrison, and dictated her Narrative (1850). Her style combining scripture, humor, and personal testimony drew large crowds across the North.