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Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol
A revealing portrait of Sojourner Truth profiles one of the most important woman of the nineteenth century, who was born into slavery, transformed herself into a pentecostal preacher, and whose strong words against slavery and in support of oppressed people still move people around the world today. Tour.
382 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1996
104 people are currently reading
3163 people want to read
About the author
Nell Irvin Painter
34 books400 followersNell Irvin Painter is an American historian notable for her works on southern history of the nineteenth century. She is retired from Princeton University, and served as president of the Organization of American Historians. She also served as president of the Southern Historical Association.
She was born Nell Irvin to Dona and Frank E. Irvin, Sr. She had an older brother Frank who died young. Her family moved from Houston, Texas, to Oakland, California when she was ten weeks old. This was part of the second wave of the Great Migration of millions of African Americans from the Deep South to urban centers. Some of their relatives had been in California since the 1920s. The Irvins went to California in the 1940s with the pull of increasing jobs in the defense industry. Nell attended the Oakland Public Schools.
Her mother Dona Irvin held a degree from Houston College for Negroes (1937), and later taught in the public schools of Oakland. Her father had to drop out of college in 1937 during the Great Depression; he eventually trained for work as a laboratory technician. He worked for years at the University of California at Berkeley, where he trained many students in lab techniques.
Painter earned her B.A. - Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964. During her undergraduate years, she studied French medieval history at the University of Bordeaux, France, 1962–63. She also studied abroad at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, 1965–66. In 1967, she completed an M.A. at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1974, she earned an M.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard University. She returned to study and earned a B.F.A. at Rutgers University in 2009. Painter has received honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, Wesleyan University, and Yale University, among other institutions.
In 1989, Painter married the mathematician Glenn Shafer, co-creator of the Dempster–Shafer theory.
(from Wikipedia)
She was born Nell Irvin to Dona and Frank E. Irvin, Sr. She had an older brother Frank who died young. Her family moved from Houston, Texas, to Oakland, California when she was ten weeks old. This was part of the second wave of the Great Migration of millions of African Americans from the Deep South to urban centers. Some of their relatives had been in California since the 1920s. The Irvins went to California in the 1940s with the pull of increasing jobs in the defense industry. Nell attended the Oakland Public Schools.
Her mother Dona Irvin held a degree from Houston College for Negroes (1937), and later taught in the public schools of Oakland. Her father had to drop out of college in 1937 during the Great Depression; he eventually trained for work as a laboratory technician. He worked for years at the University of California at Berkeley, where he trained many students in lab techniques.
Painter earned her B.A. - Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964. During her undergraduate years, she studied French medieval history at the University of Bordeaux, France, 1962–63. She also studied abroad at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, 1965–66. In 1967, she completed an M.A. at the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1974, she earned an M.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard University. She returned to study and earned a B.F.A. at Rutgers University in 2009. Painter has received honorary degrees from Dartmouth College, Wesleyan University, and Yale University, among other institutions.
In 1989, Painter married the mathematician Glenn Shafer, co-creator of the Dempster–Shafer theory.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
April 10, 2010
I had no idea that the caption for the cover image, which is the most popular image that remains of Sojourner Truth, is "I sell the shadow to support the substance." Painter's fascinating biography paints the fullest description of Truth's life I have read, puts Truth's own autobiography into context & includes a number of surprising (to me) elements including a 1858 "breast-baring incident" during which Truth showed her breasts to prove her womanhood and shame the audience of mainly white men; details about Truth's complicated religious history -- she was an illiterate itinerant preacher known for challenging Frederick Douglass by famously asking him, "Is God Dead?", but later in her life frequented seances and hung out with spiritualist Quakers -- and, at the end, asks the question of whether or not we are comfortable enough with the nuances of Truth's life to be more curious than we are about her trajectory rather than her usefulness as a symbol. A very intriguing and well-written biography.
May 26, 2010
Nell Irvin Painter’s biography of Sojourner Truth is unique, I think, because of the author’s attempt, not only to accurately portray Truth’s life, but also to understand the making and value of Truth as a symbol. Before reading this book, I recommend making some notes on what you know about Sojourner Truth. You may be surprised at how wrong or incomplete your picture of her is.
I learned several things that really stood out for me. One was that Truth was illiterate. Although she was reportedly very well-spoken, we have to rely on accounts written by other people for access to what she (may not have) said, leaving the reality of Truth’s words open for debate. Another interesting fact is that Truth’s first language was Dutch! (She was actually a slave in New York state, not in the South) and so all those reports of her words written in that old time, slavey, Southern dialect are just plain false! Truth did have her photo taken and sold cards of her “shadow” as a means of supporting herself, so at least we do have real images of her rather than just artists’ renditions.
Truth struck me as a very modern woman in the way she lived her life. After a short marriage, she apparently lived the rest of her life without marrying or partnering again. She traveled a lot, and often by herself, which was altogether rare then and even more so for a woman and an African-American. She was a Northerner, an urban person. She joined groups, lived in communes, and participated in a variety of interests throughout her life. I was deeply impressed with the way she rescued her son from slavery through legal means (NY outlawed slavery in about 1827, although enslaved people born after about 1800 would continue as indentured servants until about age 25. Truth’s son Peter was illegally sold to slaveholders in the South, where he would have remained enslaved until the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation). Truth went to court to get her son back, and she won!
Even after reading this biography, I have a lot of unanswered questions about Sojourner’s life. When did she learn English? What was her sense of herself as a mother? (She left all of her children, except her one year old baby, still enslaved when she left slavery. One of her children was just two years old.) How is it that Truth’s estimation of her age was so off-base? (She never knew her exact age, and thought she was about 105 years old at the time of her death. I’m not sure how Irvin Painter arrived at Truth’s birth date -- I couldn’t find a reference in her sources-- but she pinpointed Truth’s birth to around 1797, making her about 86 when she died.)
This work was sometimes very dry and scholarly, which makes sense since it was written by a historian who highly values scholarly work. I’m glad I read this, and now I long for a skilled writer to create a first-person, fictionalized account of Sojourner’s life and attempt to answer all my questions.
I learned several things that really stood out for me. One was that Truth was illiterate. Although she was reportedly very well-spoken, we have to rely on accounts written by other people for access to what she (may not have) said, leaving the reality of Truth’s words open for debate. Another interesting fact is that Truth’s first language was Dutch! (She was actually a slave in New York state, not in the South) and so all those reports of her words written in that old time, slavey, Southern dialect are just plain false! Truth did have her photo taken and sold cards of her “shadow” as a means of supporting herself, so at least we do have real images of her rather than just artists’ renditions.
Truth struck me as a very modern woman in the way she lived her life. After a short marriage, she apparently lived the rest of her life without marrying or partnering again. She traveled a lot, and often by herself, which was altogether rare then and even more so for a woman and an African-American. She was a Northerner, an urban person. She joined groups, lived in communes, and participated in a variety of interests throughout her life. I was deeply impressed with the way she rescued her son from slavery through legal means (NY outlawed slavery in about 1827, although enslaved people born after about 1800 would continue as indentured servants until about age 25. Truth’s son Peter was illegally sold to slaveholders in the South, where he would have remained enslaved until the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation). Truth went to court to get her son back, and she won!
Even after reading this biography, I have a lot of unanswered questions about Sojourner’s life. When did she learn English? What was her sense of herself as a mother? (She left all of her children, except her one year old baby, still enslaved when she left slavery. One of her children was just two years old.) How is it that Truth’s estimation of her age was so off-base? (She never knew her exact age, and thought she was about 105 years old at the time of her death. I’m not sure how Irvin Painter arrived at Truth’s birth date -- I couldn’t find a reference in her sources-- but she pinpointed Truth’s birth to around 1797, making her about 86 when she died.)
This work was sometimes very dry and scholarly, which makes sense since it was written by a historian who highly values scholarly work. I’m glad I read this, and now I long for a skilled writer to create a first-person, fictionalized account of Sojourner’s life and attempt to answer all my questions.
December 10, 2016
“As an abolitionist and feminist, she put her body and her mind to a unique task, that of physically representing women who had been enslaved. At a time when most Americans thought of slaves as male and women as white, Truth embodied a fact that still bears repeating: Among the blacks are women; among the women, there are blacks.”
About a month ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear The Reverend Doctor William Barber speak. (More information about him here: http://www.breachrepairers.org/.) He was speaking about the times in our history that religious groups had responded well to the issues of the day. Starting with Reconstruction after the Civil War, Barber gave an incredible history lesson to everyone in the room. As he spoke, Barber referenced a number of authors and histories. I wrote down all that information so I could read through them and learn some new things about my country’s history.
With this first book, my eyes have been opened. I knew there was slavery in the North, I had heard that members of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia had owned slaves. I had never really considered what that meant. Who were the slaves? What happened to them after slavery was banned in the North? Were their lives any better or were they worse? This book answered questions that I didn’t even know I should be asking.
Sojourner Truth was a slave in New York State. She and her family were enslaved, abused and taken advantage of through slavery and the aftermath. Her whole life was affected by her enslavement.
I had no idea what Sojourner Truth’s life really was like. I knew the synopsis, the children’s tale of what Sojourner Truth did. There is so much more. Painter has written an amazing tale about a woman I really didn’t know. What makes it more remarkable is how few resources were available to Painter. To tell this life story took some incredible research.
If you think you know Sojourner Truth, pick up this book. If you like to read about remarkable people who have overcome incredible odds, read this sooner than later. You will be amazed.
About a month ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to hear The Reverend Doctor William Barber speak. (More information about him here: http://www.breachrepairers.org/.) He was speaking about the times in our history that religious groups had responded well to the issues of the day. Starting with Reconstruction after the Civil War, Barber gave an incredible history lesson to everyone in the room. As he spoke, Barber referenced a number of authors and histories. I wrote down all that information so I could read through them and learn some new things about my country’s history.
With this first book, my eyes have been opened. I knew there was slavery in the North, I had heard that members of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia had owned slaves. I had never really considered what that meant. Who were the slaves? What happened to them after slavery was banned in the North? Were their lives any better or were they worse? This book answered questions that I didn’t even know I should be asking.
Sojourner Truth was a slave in New York State. She and her family were enslaved, abused and taken advantage of through slavery and the aftermath. Her whole life was affected by her enslavement.
I had no idea what Sojourner Truth’s life really was like. I knew the synopsis, the children’s tale of what Sojourner Truth did. There is so much more. Painter has written an amazing tale about a woman I really didn’t know. What makes it more remarkable is how few resources were available to Painter. To tell this life story took some incredible research.
If you think you know Sojourner Truth, pick up this book. If you like to read about remarkable people who have overcome incredible odds, read this sooner than later. You will be amazed.
November 3, 2014
Wow, I had no idea that the symbol of Truth does not necessarily match the lived life of Truth. Who knew, before Painter's careful consideration of documents produced around the "events" of Truth's life since Truth was unable to read or write,that the infamous phrase attributed to Truth, "ain't I a woman," was likely the construction of Frances Dana Gage writing twelve years after the event at which Truth gave that speech? Not to mention, this publication of Truth's speech came at a time when Harriet Beecher Stowe was experiencing enormous popularity and wealth over her abolitionist publications. Such a well-researched, carefully crafted narrative of Truth that puts into tension our socially, culturally constructed understanding and necessity for symbol of Truth with the complicated reality of Truth's life.
September 22, 2015
Sojourner Truth is a strong female hero! She escaped with her children to New York to get away from slavery. She helped recruit African-Americans for the Union Army. She is known for her famous women's speech "Ain't I a woman?" Ms. Truth fought for slave freedom, women's rights, and the harsh treatment of African-American soldier's after the civil war until her death. This book is a beautiful well written story of Ms. Truth during a period that was hard for any African-American woman especially one that spoke her mind. This book really made me admire Ms. Truth even more. I think this book should be a required reading during the 6th-9th grade.
library-priority
November 16, 2025Never lived in the South and would not have spoken in the deep dialect 'preserved' by the memories of those who reported on her speech. Chose her own name while in her 40s. Achieved freedom (obviously, look at the dates) well before the Civil War. I'm very much looking forward to reading what else Painter can tell us about her.
July 4, 2012
So the Sojourner Truth we were all introduced to was a creation of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances Dana Gage who found her fascinating and characterized her as a fierce and capativating presence that could quell an audience with her ready wit. In reality, Sojourner was a woman of courage, but deep reflection and common sense, who didn't seek the limelight, someone who wanted to protect her children and provide for herself. She was indeed courageous, clever, and wise beyong anyone's expctations of a black woman but,she was in fact a complicated and multi-faceted personality. Unfortunately, she couldn't write or else we would have more printed material that would speak to her story from her own hand.
I would like for Painter to have provided authenticated anecdotal stories of what Truth did say because the book seems to diminish what she said and accomplished in her many years of aboltionist and women's right advoacy...and maybe that was was she was intending to do, but was unable to honestly do so because Truth was but a poor and uneducated woman without the means to document her legacy.
Maybe I was loooking for the "symbol" just like Painter accuses, as she explains: "Truth is consumed as a signifier and beloved for what we need her to have said. It is no accident that in each case, other people writing as well after the fact made up what we see as most meaningful."
Stories were written about her years after the fact, and the further you get from the event, the less reliable it is; it is written nostalgically and given to stereotyping based on an accumulation of work.
I still want to believe the myth. I admit it. I do. I was drawn to her by her bravery and her wise words in the face of prejudice. I loved her insight and her daring.And I still do.
I would like for Painter to have provided authenticated anecdotal stories of what Truth did say because the book seems to diminish what she said and accomplished in her many years of aboltionist and women's right advoacy...and maybe that was was she was intending to do, but was unable to honestly do so because Truth was but a poor and uneducated woman without the means to document her legacy.
Maybe I was loooking for the "symbol" just like Painter accuses, as she explains: "Truth is consumed as a signifier and beloved for what we need her to have said. It is no accident that in each case, other people writing as well after the fact made up what we see as most meaningful."
Stories were written about her years after the fact, and the further you get from the event, the less reliable it is; it is written nostalgically and given to stereotyping based on an accumulation of work.
I still want to believe the myth. I admit it. I do. I was drawn to her by her bravery and her wise words in the face of prejudice. I loved her insight and her daring.And I still do.
December 7, 2012
This is a great book because it deconstructs the construction of her as a mystical figure. We learn about her life and how she was an advocate for both women's rights as well as rights for African Americans. I really enjoyed reading about her and the work that she has done. It was a very good read, forming opinions from other works or earlier narratives. Good read if you want to find out who the real Sojourner Truth was.
January 21, 2024
Truthfully, I am not a reader of nonfiction or biographies, unless it is about a topic or person I am VERY passionate to know more about.
Regardless of that fact, I still was able to get a lot of information out of this book to feel confident for my history class paper; but this biography had A LOT of information about other people that, yes, were in Sojourner Truth's but not enough to need paragraphs of background about them...so I ended up skimming quite a bit.
Regardless of that fact, I still was able to get a lot of information out of this book to feel confident for my history class paper; but this biography had A LOT of information about other people that, yes, were in Sojourner Truth's but not enough to need paragraphs of background about them...so I ended up skimming quite a bit.
October 7, 2012
I first heard of Sojourner Truth in another book I was reading. She sounded very inspiring and I wanted to learn more. I was disappointed while reading her biography to learn that the inspiring situation was false. Truth was an amazing woman even without the false story and the real version is just as great as the fictionalized one.
March 14, 2021
Impressive unraveling of the many myths and distortions that came out of self-named Sojourner Truth’s long life. Born into slavery to a Dutch family in upstate New York, her path to freedom and a life as an itinerant preacher, feminist and anti-slavery activist is truly remarkable. Then, as now, racism followed her every step of the way.
September 23, 2019
Brilliant book.
June 29, 2024
Excellent biography about a fascinating figure by a great historian. Even if you've read the Narrative, there's still plenty more to unpack, and Painter pays special attention to the historiographical questions (Sojourner Truth the Symbol) both then an now. Highly recommend!
March 17, 2019
This book is an exceptionally comprehensive book on the life of Sojourner Truth. Although it is written by an academic, the chronicle oftentimes reads like a novel, riveting and informative at the same time. Sojourner, born Isabella Von Waggen in Ulster Co, New York was born into northern slavery. She suffered many family losses including some of her own children. After she received a message from the Holy Spirit, she became Sojourner Truth and became involved not only in Spiritualist movements, some of shady origins such as the Cult of Brother Mattias but also spoke up and joined with not only abolitionists but suffragettes.
Nell Irwin Painter works hard to dispel the myths of Sojourner and separates the truth from the legend. I always thought her famous speech,"Ain't I a Woman?" was true. It turns out that this aspect was created 12 years later by a journalist, Francis Dana Gage. This was a bit painful to acknowledge.
The author explains the academic need to separate the truth from fiction, but no matter how hard she tried, she realized finally that people need their myths, their legends, even if they are not true and thus, Sojourner Truth has become the legend we know of her today.
I would have liked to see more emotional content regarding her family issues with her children. Her relationship with her grandson is documented, but one never knew how she felt about her daughters and her burning need to constantly leave and work for humanity as a whole, rather than her family!
A well written and excellent book overall!
Nell Irwin Painter works hard to dispel the myths of Sojourner and separates the truth from the legend. I always thought her famous speech,"Ain't I a Woman?" was true. It turns out that this aspect was created 12 years later by a journalist, Francis Dana Gage. This was a bit painful to acknowledge.
The author explains the academic need to separate the truth from fiction, but no matter how hard she tried, she realized finally that people need their myths, their legends, even if they are not true and thus, Sojourner Truth has become the legend we know of her today.
I would have liked to see more emotional content regarding her family issues with her children. Her relationship with her grandson is documented, but one never knew how she felt about her daughters and her burning need to constantly leave and work for humanity as a whole, rather than her family!
A well written and excellent book overall!
November 20, 2013
One reason I appreciated this book is because of the research the author did to determine what was true (about Truth!) and what was exaggeration and fiction. Also how biases kept certain parts of Truth's story from being told. It was very interesting to learn that even well read people don't want to know the facts if it removes a symbol they've relied on and that symbols are very important to certain people.
November 16, 2013
'Sojourner Truth: A life, A symbol' is an inspiring book that tells her story in a clear way highlighting all of her achievements. The book opens your mind to the many things that a single human being can accomplish and change if they set their minds to it. In my opinion the author Nell Irvin Painter does the story justice.
January 9, 2009
What I enjoyed about this book was that Painter goes back to the primary sources to get the real story about Sojourner Truth. From there, Painter studies the development of the Sojourner Truth the symbol and why it is the symbol that survives today.
February 23, 2017
I enjoyed this book not only for the biography of Sojourner Truth but also for the nineteenth-century history of women's rights and the abolitionist movement. Must read for anyone interested in Women's Studies and/or Black History.
March 20, 2013
Prior to reading this I knew next to nothing about its subject beyond a caricatured view, which Nell Irvin Painter completely overturns. But I'm definitely going to seek out Margaret Washington's more recent Truth biography as well.
September 20, 2012
Incredibly well-researched illuminating biography of Isabella Baumfree, who became Sojourner Truth. If you think you know anything about slavery or her, read this, you will find it illuminating.
December 12, 2015
I really enjoyed this - very readable, well researched, raises pertinent issues, and the examination of Truth as a person and as a symbol - and the creation of that symbol - is invaluable.
March 7, 2019
As a biography it was not very approachable. It read more like a text book, and even the parts where it told about how dynamic her speeches were felt very stiff and detached.
April 19, 2020
1996
I learned a lot from this book. Painter sets out to put Sojourner Truth [born Ulster Co. New York state c1797 as Isabella Van Wagenen-1883] in a broad context, and she succeeds.
It's remarkable how little is known about this long-lived woman who was so much in the public eye and who gave so many speeches and sermons.
She did not read and write, so not only do we have nothing that she herself wrote, her so-called autobiography seems to have been quite biased by the first woman who wrote it into a book, and then the next woman who added and changed it for later editions.
TO READ: Representing Truth:
'Sojourner Truth's Knowing and Becoming Known'. By Nell Irvin Painter. Article [summarizing part of the book] publ 1994 J of Amer History -- read it on google search.
Painter does a good job of pointing out and entangling the confusion of abolitionists and woman suffragists; some organizations were for both these things, others for only one. Truth got involved with all these variations at one time or another.
Her first 9 years she spoke Dutch, as that was the language of her masters.
She never lived in the South, and would have spoken the same dialect of English as her 2nd or 3rd set of white slave owners in NY state. [Whereas nearly every article written about her in her lifetime --always using her to further the agenda of the suffrage or abolition newsletter it was published in -- quotes from her speeches in extreme southern black dialect, which Painter argues could simply not have been the way she spoke at all.
Truth purchased her first house in 1850 in Northampton Mass., and sold it in 1857, moving to Battle Creek Mich., where she eventually bought another house. She spent most of her speaking career [i.e. second half of her life] living with and speaking to white people.
At the very end of the book, Painter sums up the reasons why a historian would find more credible the write-up of Truth's 1851 speech written AT THAT TIME by organization secretary Marius Robinson [p 125]. Power, powerful voice, soul, earnestness, gesture, simple and honest. Painter then tells several incidents and exchanges in reaction to this claim of her that convinced her that accuracy aside, people [including scholars of history!] NEED a the myth/legend of Sojourner Truth as a Strong Heroic Angry black woman who electrified white audiences and silenced them. A myth ["symbol" for Painter] that ignores and denies her vulnerabilities.
Truth's earlier [1832-35] devotion to a charlatan who proclaimed himself Matthias the Prophet shows her gullibility. p59: "A chasm seems to separate the strong, canny person who would create the legendary Sojourner Truth from the woman who stayed with a scoundrel who beat her up, suppressed her preaching, took her money, and made her do his housework for nothing...How could she submit to being bossed about by Matthias...?" Painter notes that this was not too different from the ambivalent relationship [maintained her whole life] with her slave-owner/family Dumont[?] when she was a teenager and young woman -- part friendly and supportive, part abusive.
A NYC journalist Gilbert Vale investigated Matthias and is 'a rich source for information' about Truth. Vale got to know Truth through several interviews and describes her as SHREWD, which seems to me a pretty fair description after reading Painter's book. Truth was very aware of the value of money and how few ways she could get any. When she found there were white abolitionists and woman's suffragists who were willing to pay her [and provide lodging and transportation] to speak at their meetings and conventions, she was glad to do so. She saved, and was able to buy a house in Northampton.
It wasn't until the summing-up chapter that I realized that Gilbert Vale's description of Truth was one of very few, so I went back and reread that early chapter. Also, how significant Marius Robinson's report of Truth's 1851 speech was; again I had to return to that chapter and reread it. Painter shows that the writer of the Autobiography had very much her own agenda, and the one or two later editors had *their* own agendas; also, the autobiography was a project Truth embarked on as a way to get some income, rather than any attempt at an accurate historical document of her life. As Vale noted, Truth was "not communicative".
She used humor to good effect in her speeches. Painter notes that "the humor was shrewd, for it allowed her to get away with sharp criticism, but it permitted some of her hearers to ignore her meaning." p 129
RELIGION was extremely important to Truth, and this is probably ignored by most today who use Truth as a symbol. Truth spent many years with those of the movement [one of a great many at that time] called perfectionists, which Painter says we can think of as today's pentecostals. The Holy Spirit was important. A great many of the abolitionists and suffragists were also religious and Painter spends time describing each of these movements and beliefs and communities. Painter also says most everybody in those times knew their Bible backwards and forwards, and though Truth could not read, she had had others read the Bible to her and could cite many verses to advantage.
I learned a lot from this book. Painter sets out to put Sojourner Truth [born Ulster Co. New York state c1797 as Isabella Van Wagenen-1883] in a broad context, and she succeeds.
It's remarkable how little is known about this long-lived woman who was so much in the public eye and who gave so many speeches and sermons.
She did not read and write, so not only do we have nothing that she herself wrote, her so-called autobiography seems to have been quite biased by the first woman who wrote it into a book, and then the next woman who added and changed it for later editions.
TO READ: Representing Truth:
'Sojourner Truth's Knowing and Becoming Known'. By Nell Irvin Painter. Article [summarizing part of the book] publ 1994 J of Amer History -- read it on google search.
Painter does a good job of pointing out and entangling the confusion of abolitionists and woman suffragists; some organizations were for both these things, others for only one. Truth got involved with all these variations at one time or another.
Her first 9 years she spoke Dutch, as that was the language of her masters.
She never lived in the South, and would have spoken the same dialect of English as her 2nd or 3rd set of white slave owners in NY state. [Whereas nearly every article written about her in her lifetime --always using her to further the agenda of the suffrage or abolition newsletter it was published in -- quotes from her speeches in extreme southern black dialect, which Painter argues could simply not have been the way she spoke at all.
Truth purchased her first house in 1850 in Northampton Mass., and sold it in 1857, moving to Battle Creek Mich., where she eventually bought another house. She spent most of her speaking career [i.e. second half of her life] living with and speaking to white people.
At the very end of the book, Painter sums up the reasons why a historian would find more credible the write-up of Truth's 1851 speech written AT THAT TIME by organization secretary Marius Robinson [p 125]. Power, powerful voice, soul, earnestness, gesture, simple and honest. Painter then tells several incidents and exchanges in reaction to this claim of her that convinced her that accuracy aside, people [including scholars of history!] NEED a the myth/legend of Sojourner Truth as a Strong Heroic Angry black woman who electrified white audiences and silenced them. A myth ["symbol" for Painter] that ignores and denies her vulnerabilities.
Truth's earlier [1832-35] devotion to a charlatan who proclaimed himself Matthias the Prophet shows her gullibility. p59: "A chasm seems to separate the strong, canny person who would create the legendary Sojourner Truth from the woman who stayed with a scoundrel who beat her up, suppressed her preaching, took her money, and made her do his housework for nothing...How could she submit to being bossed about by Matthias...?" Painter notes that this was not too different from the ambivalent relationship [maintained her whole life] with her slave-owner/family Dumont[?] when she was a teenager and young woman -- part friendly and supportive, part abusive.
A NYC journalist Gilbert Vale investigated Matthias and is 'a rich source for information' about Truth. Vale got to know Truth through several interviews and describes her as SHREWD, which seems to me a pretty fair description after reading Painter's book. Truth was very aware of the value of money and how few ways she could get any. When she found there were white abolitionists and woman's suffragists who were willing to pay her [and provide lodging and transportation] to speak at their meetings and conventions, she was glad to do so. She saved, and was able to buy a house in Northampton.
It wasn't until the summing-up chapter that I realized that Gilbert Vale's description of Truth was one of very few, so I went back and reread that early chapter. Also, how significant Marius Robinson's report of Truth's 1851 speech was; again I had to return to that chapter and reread it. Painter shows that the writer of the Autobiography had very much her own agenda, and the one or two later editors had *their* own agendas; also, the autobiography was a project Truth embarked on as a way to get some income, rather than any attempt at an accurate historical document of her life. As Vale noted, Truth was "not communicative".
She used humor to good effect in her speeches. Painter notes that "the humor was shrewd, for it allowed her to get away with sharp criticism, but it permitted some of her hearers to ignore her meaning." p 129
RELIGION was extremely important to Truth, and this is probably ignored by most today who use Truth as a symbol. Truth spent many years with those of the movement [one of a great many at that time] called perfectionists, which Painter says we can think of as today's pentecostals. The Holy Spirit was important. A great many of the abolitionists and suffragists were also religious and Painter spends time describing each of these movements and beliefs and communities. Painter also says most everybody in those times knew their Bible backwards and forwards, and though Truth could not read, she had had others read the Bible to her and could cite many verses to advantage.
March 14, 2021
This is a remarkable book. The author attempts to disentangle the woman and the symbol. This is complicated because she is a symbol to so many people. Moreover, there is minimal documentation on her life; she was illiterate, poor, and black, and such people are doomed to be forgotten. Because of that lack of documentation, people can readily use her to support a variety of causes. Even her name is symbolic—Sojourner Truth is a name that she took herself.
Though the author does not comment on it, I was struck by one of her famous lines—“Ar’n’t I a woman?” (a line that the author notes that others probably put in her mouth). Why was this not rendered as “Aren’t I woman?” What is the difference in pronunciation? I think the only reason for the apostrophe instead of an "e" is to signal that she is speaking in dialect, like any proper poor illiterate black woman. The author documents several cases in which her speech was rendered as dialect, though other a more reliable sources record her as speaking more proper English. Similarly, she was sometimes as being born in Africa and enslaved in the South. Neither are true, although both pseudo-historical facts could be leveraged to make points.
I was impressed by the author’s tenacity in taking on this project. The last chapter suggests the difficulties that she faced. It seems that even well-educated, thoughtful individuals have a strong preference for a useful myth.
Finally, the photographs used to illustrate this book are a critical part of this book. Sojourner Truth regularly distributed photographs of herself, and this book reproduces a number of the versions that she sold at one time or the other. Each of these photographs convey a powerful message (at least to me)—whatever else you may say, Sojourner Truth was a woman of dignity and worthy of respect. She was not a caricature.
Though the author does not comment on it, I was struck by one of her famous lines—“Ar’n’t I a woman?” (a line that the author notes that others probably put in her mouth). Why was this not rendered as “Aren’t I woman?” What is the difference in pronunciation? I think the only reason for the apostrophe instead of an "e" is to signal that she is speaking in dialect, like any proper poor illiterate black woman. The author documents several cases in which her speech was rendered as dialect, though other a more reliable sources record her as speaking more proper English. Similarly, she was sometimes as being born in Africa and enslaved in the South. Neither are true, although both pseudo-historical facts could be leveraged to make points.
I was impressed by the author’s tenacity in taking on this project. The last chapter suggests the difficulties that she faced. It seems that even well-educated, thoughtful individuals have a strong preference for a useful myth.
Finally, the photographs used to illustrate this book are a critical part of this book. Sojourner Truth regularly distributed photographs of herself, and this book reproduces a number of the versions that she sold at one time or the other. Each of these photographs convey a powerful message (at least to me)—whatever else you may say, Sojourner Truth was a woman of dignity and worthy of respect. She was not a caricature.
March 4, 2020
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol is a biography of Sojourner Truth, who is an African-American abolitionist and women's right activist. Nell Irvin Painter is an American historian notable for her works on southern history of the nineteenth century, wrote this biography.
Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
Isabella Van Wagenen, a Pentecostalist domestic born into slavery about 1797 but who reinvented herself at 59 as an abolitionist orator, then into a fiery suffragist, is seen here through the prism of the religious, social, and political movements that animated her.
Shrewd and with a commonsense wit, Sojourner Truth possessed a thundering voice that skeptics wondered if she was a man. Painter asserts a quaintly exotic innocent, where Truth relayed on biblical allusions so that her audiences could understand her point of view. Painter reminds the reader that everything known about Sojourner Truth comes through other people.
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol is written and researched rather well. Painter cuts through the image-making of her contemporaries as well as later interpreters who envision Sojourner Truth as the symbol of the strong woman, but persuasively offers readers the real woman behind the myth.
All in all, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol is a well-written biography of Sojourner Truth and her amazing life from slave to activist.
Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
Isabella Van Wagenen, a Pentecostalist domestic born into slavery about 1797 but who reinvented herself at 59 as an abolitionist orator, then into a fiery suffragist, is seen here through the prism of the religious, social, and political movements that animated her.
Shrewd and with a commonsense wit, Sojourner Truth possessed a thundering voice that skeptics wondered if she was a man. Painter asserts a quaintly exotic innocent, where Truth relayed on biblical allusions so that her audiences could understand her point of view. Painter reminds the reader that everything known about Sojourner Truth comes through other people.
Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol is written and researched rather well. Painter cuts through the image-making of her contemporaries as well as later interpreters who envision Sojourner Truth as the symbol of the strong woman, but persuasively offers readers the real woman behind the myth.
All in all, Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol is a well-written biography of Sojourner Truth and her amazing life from slave to activist.
May 6, 2023
I'm so glad I read this book. After reading Truth's slave narrative (with intro and notes by Nell Irvin Painter), I found myself wanting more background information on her, so turned to this biography, which includes excellent historical analysis and Painter's own opinions about why we as a culture need Sojourner Truth as a symbol rather than as the flawed human being she was (as we all are). The one question which had honestly been the impetus behind my reading this book, why Truth never learned to read and write as an adult, was not even addressed by Painter, however. So I am left with the very few words in Truth's slave narrative which address it, words from a NY or Philadelphia paper: "when liberated, and an attempt was made to educate her, she declares she could never get beyond her a, b, abs." [p. 149 of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth] My sense from this short statement would be that she had a learning disability and was not given the tools with which she could have overcome that.
Interestingly, for me personally nothing at all is lost in the knowledge that it is extremely likely that Truth never said, "Ain't [or A'r'nt] I A Woman?" I find it somehow reassuring that the true human being who turned Isabella the slave into Sojourner Truth the itinerant preacher (and later symbol of strong black womanhood despite multiple obstacles) was flawed just like the rest of us. I am simply and truly grateful that this woman lived. She gives me hope.
Interestingly, for me personally nothing at all is lost in the knowledge that it is extremely likely that Truth never said, "Ain't [or A'r'nt] I A Woman?" I find it somehow reassuring that the true human being who turned Isabella the slave into Sojourner Truth the itinerant preacher (and later symbol of strong black womanhood despite multiple obstacles) was flawed just like the rest of us. I am simply and truly grateful that this woman lived. She gives me hope.
September 1, 2025
I first came across Nell Irvin Painter while searching for artists' memoirs, seeking inspiration for my own artist memoir. After reading, "Old in Art School" I became curious about Nell Painter's historical writing, and started reading Sojourner Truth: A Life A Symbol. Next, I'm eager to read "The History of White People."
My eyes have been opened wide reading "Sojourner Truth: A Life A Symbol." It is simultaneously riveting and academically rigorous. Sojourner Truth is so much more than the abolitionist/women's rights activist we know from her "Aren't I a woman" speech delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. Truth started life as a slave named Isabella, but she was not enslaved in the deep south, but rather, surprise! in New York State. And Painter reveals racism in our suffragette heroes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
I knew the reconstruction period after slavery was a mess, but Painter describes in great detail the havoc wrought by the end of slavery, when there was no plan to empower the newly freed slaves, and extreme racism threatened to reenslave them. The final part of the book dissects the numerous other biographies written about Truth thus fulfilling the promise of the subtitle: "A Life A Symbol."
My eyes have been opened wide reading "Sojourner Truth: A Life A Symbol." It is simultaneously riveting and academically rigorous. Sojourner Truth is so much more than the abolitionist/women's rights activist we know from her "Aren't I a woman" speech delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. Truth started life as a slave named Isabella, but she was not enslaved in the deep south, but rather, surprise! in New York State. And Painter reveals racism in our suffragette heroes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
I knew the reconstruction period after slavery was a mess, but Painter describes in great detail the havoc wrought by the end of slavery, when there was no plan to empower the newly freed slaves, and extreme racism threatened to reenslave them. The final part of the book dissects the numerous other biographies written about Truth thus fulfilling the promise of the subtitle: "A Life A Symbol."
October 27, 2023
This is a scholarly search for the truth behind Sojourner Truth. I appreciated the details of Sojourner's life as Isabella and her time in a couple religious groups that may or may not have been cults. She was a spiritual person who had a very practical streak and didn't miss on opportunities to improve her economic situation. The second half of the book focuses on Sojourner the symbol, the myth, the legend. This complicated woman has indeed become a legend and, as the author discovered, people don't often leave go of their legends even when the facts are to the contrary.
Notably most contemporaries who wrote about her honestly had a hard time describing her speech. I wonder how much that has to do with English being her second language and Dutch being her first. Or perhaps it has to do with her having a "pulpit voice" being a Pentecostal preacher and often breaking into song. One thing that does come through is that she is able to dole out some rather harsh truths by sweetening them with a little humor.
Notably most contemporaries who wrote about her honestly had a hard time describing her speech. I wonder how much that has to do with English being her second language and Dutch being her first. Or perhaps it has to do with her having a "pulpit voice" being a Pentecostal preacher and often breaking into song. One thing that does come through is that she is able to dole out some rather harsh truths by sweetening them with a little humor.
October 25, 2021
I bought this book so that I could learn about this heroic figure in history who I knew little about. The book did a wonderful job illustrating her life as an advocate for women's rights as well as the rights for African Americans.
Something surprising I got out of the book, was the unexpected history I learned about the origins of the Mormon church in New York and how that coincided with several other religions that were forming at the exact same time in the same part of the country... all claiming prophets and claiming to be the only true church. Although Sojourner Truth wasn't a Mormon, she chose to follow other prophets such as "The Prophet Matthias" for a time as she was seeking spiritual truth.
I loved learning that while Sojourner Truth was illiterate, she loved having the Bible read to her. She preferred to only have children read out loud to her because she said that adults always offered their own interpretations, and children simply read.
Something surprising I got out of the book, was the unexpected history I learned about the origins of the Mormon church in New York and how that coincided with several other religions that were forming at the exact same time in the same part of the country... all claiming prophets and claiming to be the only true church. Although Sojourner Truth wasn't a Mormon, she chose to follow other prophets such as "The Prophet Matthias" for a time as she was seeking spiritual truth.
I loved learning that while Sojourner Truth was illiterate, she loved having the Bible read to her. She preferred to only have children read out loud to her because she said that adults always offered their own interpretations, and children simply read.
April 30, 2025
I’m giving this a 5 star review because not only was it riveting and hard to put down, it challenged many of the ideals and historical beliefs about Truth. As a white woman with a degree in women’s studies, the Truth I knew fell closer to Gage’s Truth and I can see how the way I was taught about her shaped her differently in my head. Recognizing that both the white women’s movement and black women had their own ideas about Truth (and their own symbolism) and how they used it to further individual agendas was a fascinating revelation. Yuck! But also… of course!?! Thank you, Painter for this beautiful and much needed updated take on who she was and what she represented.
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