Sojourner Truth : a life, a symbol Nell Irvin Painter

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Painter, Nell Irvin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Truth, Sojourner, 1799-1883.

African American abolitionists--Biography.

Abolitionists--United States--Biography.

Women abolitionists--United States--Biography.

Social reformers--United States--Biography.

Women social reformers--United States--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 370 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [1996]

Summary:

Sojourner Truth: ex-slave and fiery abolitionist, figure of imposing physique, riveting preacher and spellbinding singer who dazzled listeners with her wit and originality. Straight talking and unsentimental, Truth became a national symbol for strong black women - indeed, for all strong women. Like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, she is regarded as a radical of immense and enduring influence; yet unlike them, what is remembered of her consists more of myth than of historical fact. Now, in a masterful blend of scholarship and sympathetic understanding, eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter goes beyond the myths, words, and photographs to uncover the life of a complex woman who was born into slavery and died a legend. Inspired by religion, Truth transformed herself from a domestic servant named Isabella into an itinerant Pentecostal preacher; her words of empowerment have inspired black women and poor people the world over to this day. As an abolitionist and a feminist, Truth defied the stereotype of "the slave" as male and "the woman" as white - expounding a fact that still bears repeating: among blacks there are women; among women, there are blacks.

Contents:

Isabella, Sojourner Truth, and American slavery

Isabella, a slave

Journey toward freedom

Sanctification

Plaintiff and witch

New York perfectionism

In the kingdom of Matthias

Isabella's New York City

Among the Millerites

Northampton

Douglass, Ruggles, and family

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth

Networks of antislavery feminism

Akron, 1851

Vengeance and womanhood

Spiritualism

The "Libyan Sibyl"

"Ar'n't I a woman?"

Partisan and aristocrat

Truth in photographs

Presidents

Washington's freedpeople

Woman suffrage

Kansas

The end of a life

The life of a symbol

Coda: The triumph of a symbol.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 293-343) and index.

Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Award, 1997.

British Library not licensed to copy 0.

Local Notes:

Pennsylvania Abolition Society Complimentary Collection.

ISBN:

0393027392

9780393027396

0393317080

9780393317084

OCLC:

33440089