Sojourner Truth

Chronology of Truth's Life

1797?-1829: Lived in Ulster County, N Y 1797? Born a slave of Johannes Hardenbergh, i n Swartekill neighborhood, town of Hurley, N Y
1799-1806? Slave of Charles Hardenbergh, Swartekill, tow n of Hurley
18o6?-8? Slave of John Neely, town of Kingston, NY
I8O8?-IO Slave of Martinus Schryver, [Port Ewen] town of Kingston 1810-26 Slave o f John Dumont, [West Park] town of New Paltz, NY 1826, Fall Walked away from Dumont
1826—27 Legally slave o f Isaac Van Wagenen, Wagondale [Bloomington], town of Hurley 1827, July 4 Legally freed, with all the remaining slaves in New York State
1827-28 Took legal action in Kingston, NY, to recover her son from slavery in Alabama 1827-28? Converted t o Christ; joined the Methodist Church, Kingston
1828?—29 Lived in Kingston, working as domestic
1829—43: Lived in or Near New York, N Y 1829 Moved t o New York City; worked as domestic
1832—34 In Matthias's Utopian community, the Kingdom, in New York City and Sing Sing, N Y
1843, June 1 Left New York City to become a traveling evangelist in Long Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts
1844-57: Lived in Northampton, M A
1844-46 In the Utopian Northampton Association, Northampton, MA
1850, Apr. 15 Bought her first house, Northampton 1850 Her Narrative first published, with help of William L. Garrison
1850, Fall Her first documented speaking as a reformer: spoke for women's rights and against slavery, in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
1851, Feb.-May Spoke against slavery across upstate New York
1851, May 28-29 Spoke at Akron, OH, Women's Rights Convention, saying women should have a chance to set the world "right side up "
1851-52 Itinerant antislavery speaker in Ohio
1852, Aug. 22 At an antislavery meeting in Salem, OH, confronted Frederick Douglass, asking, "Is God gone?"
1853 Visited Harriet Beecher Stowe, Andover, MA
1853-55 Spoke in New England, Pennsylvania, and New York
1854, Nov. 1 Paid off mortgage on her Northampton house
1856-57 Spoke i n Midwest: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana
1857-83: Lived in or Near Battle Creek, MI
1857, July 28 Bought a house in Harmonia, a Spiritualist community, town of Bedford, near Battle Creek, MI 1858, Oct. Spoke against slavery in Silver Lake, IN; when pro-slavery enemies accused her of being a man in disguise, sh e bared her breasts to the audience
1861, May-June Spoke against slavery and for the Union in Steuben County, IN; threatened with violence and arrested
1863, Apr. Harriet Beecher Stowe published an article on her, in the Atlantic Monthly
1863, Nov. Carried donations of food from Battle Creek to black soldiers at Camp Ward, Detroit, for their Thanksgiving dinner
1864-67 In Washington, DC, counseling, teaching, resettling freed slaves
1864, Oct. 29 . Visited President Lincoln at the White House
1865, Mar.—Sept. Rode in Washington streetcars, pressing to desegregate them
1867, Mar.—July Moved freed slaves from the South to Rochester, NY
1867, May 9 Spoke at an equal rights convention in New York, for suffrage for both blacks and women
1867, Aug.-Nov. Bought a bar in Battle Creek proper; began converting it into a house 1868, Aug.-Dec. Spoke in New York State; quit smoking
1869-70, Sept.-Jan. Spoke in Rochester; New York City; Philadelphia; Vineland, N J
1870, Mar. 31 Visited President Grant at the White House
1870 Began to speak conspicuously against alcohol, tobacco, and fashionable dress
1870-74 Campaigned for western land for freed slaves, from Massachusetts to Kansas
1872, Fall Spoke for the reelection of President Grant; tried to vote i n Battle Creek, but was refused
1874, Mar.-July Spoke in Baltimore, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, especially for western land for freed slaves 1875 Expanded version of her Narrative published; ill
1877-78 Spoke in Michigan, especially for temperance
1878-79, July-May Spoke in New York State
1879, Fall In Kansas working with the black refugees arriving from the South
1880—81 Spoke in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, especially for temperance an d against capital punishment
1883, Nov. 26 Died at her home in Battle Creek