Sojourner Truth Escapes Slavery and Begins Life as Free Woman

Isabella Baumfree, later known as Sojourner Truth, escaped from slavery in New York State on July 4, 1827, the date New York's gradual emancipation law took effect, carrying her infant daughter to freedom. She subsequently won a landmark legal case in 1828 to recover her son Peter who had been illegally sold into Alabama, becoming one of the first Black women to win a court case against a white man in the United States. These early acts of legal and personal agency foreshadowed her later career as one of the most powerful voices for abolition and women's rights in American history.