We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth (Library of Religious Biography

by Nancy Koester

Sojourner Truth’s powerful voice calls to us through this evocative narrative of faith in action—and her words are more relevant than ever. 
 
Though born into slavery, Sojourner Truth would defy the limits placed upon her as a Black woman to become one of the nineteenth century’s most renowned female preachers and civil rights advocates. In We Will Be Free, Nancy Koester chronicles her spiritual journey as an enslaved woman, a working mother, and an itinerant preacher and activist. 
 
On Pentecost in 1827, the course of Sojourner Truth’s life was changed forever when she had a vision of Jesus calling her to preach. Though women could not be trained as ministers at the time, her persuasive speaking, powerful singing, and quick wit converted many to her social causes. During the Civil War, Truth campaigned for the Union to abolish slavery throughout the United States, and she personally recruited Black troops for the effort. Her activism carried her to Washington, DC, where she met Abraham Lincoln and ministered to refugees of Southern slavery. Truth’s faith-driven action continued throughout Reconstruction, as she aided freed people, campaigned for reparations, advocated for women’s rights, and defied segregation on public transportation.  
 
Sojourner Truth’s powerful voice once echoed in the streets of Washington and New York. Her passion rings out again in Nancy Koester’s vivid writing. As the legacy of slavery and segregation still looms over the United States today, students of American history, Christians, and all interested readers will find inspiration and illumination in Truth’s story.

Genres: Biography, Biography Memoir, Christian

293 pages, Hardcover

Published February 21, 2023

Reviews

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Will Be Free by Nancy Koester provides reader with an in depth history of who Sojourner Truth was and the impact she had on the abolitionist movement as well as the movement of Black feminist rights. I enjoyed reading about the intimate details of Sojourner's life even before she changed her name and moved up north to pursue her calling as a minister and public speaker. I am in awe of the amount of work Truth was able to do despite her inability to read and write. It's noted that she embraced nonviolence until the Civil War started at which point she became very close with Harriet Tubman. The relationships that Truth was able to develop over the course of her life with peers and abolitionists alike allowed her to find homes and jobs for freedpeople in the North and for herself.

After reading We Will Be Free I am more clear than ever about the woman of faith Sojourner Truth was and just how much her Christianity helped her to lead and guide others.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slavery is America's Original Sin, and it is a sin that has continued to make itself felt even to this day. It has stained the history of the United States, even if many in the nation do not wish to acknowledge this truth. One way to address this reality is to lift up the stories of those who endured slavery and worked to overturn it. We know the names of some of these individuals, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman. Numbered among the most powerful voices for change was Sojourner Truth, also known as Isabella Van Wagenen.

Isabella was born into slavery in New York state around 1797. It may surprise many (I didn't know this), but slavery remained legal in New York until 1827. It was especially prominent among Dutch farmers, and thus Isabella grew up speaking Dutch and a dialect of Afro-Dutch. Thus, she would need to learn English as she left that context. In time Isabella Van Wagenen (she took the last name of the final family she was enslaved to before deciding to flee her situation a year prior to emancipation in New York). In time, as she became active as a preacher and activist, she took the name Sojourner Truth. As Sojourner Truth, she would become a powerful advocate for abolition, civil rights, and women's rights. She did this even though she never learned to read or write. However, she had a keen mind, a great memory, and a powerful speaking voice. Hers is a story worthy of attending to.

"We Will Be Free: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth" provides an important introduction to Truth's life and work that stresses the importance of her faith to that work. The author of this biography is Nancy Koester. Koester holds a Ph.D. in church history and is an ordained ELCA minister. Her scholarly work has focused on nineteenth-century American history, with a focus on the anti-slavery movement, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. That background provides an important foundation for this biography, which appears as part of the Eerdmans Library of Religious Biography. Koester contributed a previous volume to this series on Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I have known the name Sojourner Truth and that she was an important figure in the Abolitionist Movement. However, that is about all I knew until reading this compelling biography by Nancy Koester. The fact that she rose from slavery to become a leading voice for civil rights and women's rights, without ever learning to read or write, catches one's attention.

Koester takes us from Sojournet's birth into slavery in the Hudson Valley of New York, to her movement from one owner to another. The birth of children, one of whom was sold to a family in the South, even though that was illegal. The beginnings of the commitment to justice that she committed herself to perhaps began as she sought and got her son back. As Isabella, she was a loyal and hard worker. After fleeing from slavery in 1826, she moved to New York City where she sought work. While she did so, working for wealthy families, she was eventually drawn into several millennialist movements, including some connected with William Miller. What these movements did, however, was provide her the opportunity to develop a sense of call to preach. They also provided her with a sense of community that she desired to be part of. Eventually, she would become part of a community of abolitionists in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she became acquainted with the leading abolitionists of the day and received her opportunity to tell her story of enslavement and freedom. It is in the course of these events that she changed her name to Sojourner Truth.

We follow the story forward as Sojourner Truth became a major figure, appearing at abolitionist rallies and women's rights conventions, telling her story and calling for change. In 1851 she saw the publication of her memoir, which was told to a friend who transcribed her story, as well as embellishing it. Thus, there are elements that are less than accurate. One of the big areas of concern was her exact age, as her co-author made her ten to twenty years older than she was. One of the concerns relayed by Nancy Koester is that Truth had to fight hard to control her image. One way she did this was to have her picture taken and turned into cards, which would sell. The other concern was the way her speeches were reported. Although she requested that her speeches be transcribed in standard English there was a tendency to report her speaking in plantation English, something she never used (remember that she was born into slavery among Dutch farmers and so her first language was Dutch. But the press and even Harriet Beecher Stowe continued to portray her speaking in plantation English.

Eventually, Truth made her home prior to the Civil War in Battle Creek, Michigan. Battle Creek would remain her home until her death, though she spent significant time on the road speaking about abolition, women's rights, and after the end of the war civil rights. She worked hard to support the needs of freedmen, working to move them to places such as Kansas where they could make a home and build a life. She supported herself largely through the sale of her memoir, which was updated several times.

This is a unique life, whose full story requires a biography such as this one. While Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist and an advocate for civil and women's rights, she was first and foremost a follower of Jesus. While she couldn't read or write, she had the Bible read to her throughout her life, allowing her to memorize and make use of scripture in her speeches and most importantly in her preaching. It was interesting to learn that early on, as she sought to learn the message of the Bible, she preferred to have children read to her. The reason was that the children didn't try to explain the Bible to her.

Perhaps most famous for her "Ain't I a Woman" speech delivered in 1851 to the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio (three versions of the speech can be found in the book's appendix), her life story demonstrates that not only was she a woman, but she was also a formidable woman until the very end of her life. Though she endured poverty most of her life, largely because she used her money to support others in need, the left a lasting legacy in her witness to the equality of all people, especially Black women.

Biographies of this sort are important because they help us get to know the fuller identity of important figures who can remain a bit of a mystery. The name Sojourner Truth is compelling, but why this name? This particular biography is important because Koester keeps Sojourner Truth's faith front and center. I find it intriguing that her last speech took place in Lansing, Michigan, where she addressed the Michigan Legislature that was debating a bill that would authorize the use of hanging as capital punishment. There in June 1881, not long before her death, she spoke against this law, finding it beyond belief that her beloved Michigan would do such a thing. She reminded the legislature that "the religion of Jesus is forgiveness." So, she asked how she could pray "Father forgive me as I forgive those who trespass against me," and then turn around and support hanging. In her mind hanging was murder and contrary to the way of Jesus (p. 216). Even to the end, she stood firm for what was right. That commitment was rooted in her faith.

Nancy Koester is to be commended for bringing to life this powerful story of a woman whose voice needs to be heard at this moment in time when many in our midst want to whitewash our history by setting aside the most problematic elements of that history. Whatever gains came to those enslaved as well as women, came as people of strength stood up and were counted. These stories require our attention. Here is a story beautifully and powerfully told.

[AE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Koester’s engaging, well-researched, deeply respectful, and appropriately upbeat tribute of Sojourner Truth is well-worth the investment of time. Koester portrays Truth’s spirit-filled faith in its unswerving commitment to justice. Truth showed us how God made human beings to be in community and share respect and love and justice. Due to adversity, Truth let her light beam broad and deep in the land. As an impassioned social and political activist in times when African Americans were disregarded, Truth’s faith guided her and created strong interest in those around her. Truth circulated petitions to advance her views of freedpeople’s rights. But she never successfully advanced a bill in Congress. Yet there was no questioning her belief that the inalienable rights referenced in the U.S. Constitution, endowed by the Creator, belonged to all - without exception. This was born of Truth’s belief in a loving God who created all equal, and not through the agency of mankind.

Through many adversities (including the poignant and wrenching losses of a son and a grandson whom she loved and respected), Truth persisted in valiant and heroic fashion, to follow her convictions about freedom (and then about property ownership) as an equalizing and liberating force. In a time when African Americans were themselves considered merchandise to be bought and sold, this worldview was quite illuminating and unique.

Koester’s voice is a scholarly voice that draws this wonderful portrait in a soft and assured, yet convicted, cadence As Koester gently reminds the reader, there were times when Truth’s trust in humanity was unjustified by the harsh events of her life. Yet she never uttered defeated words.

Koester also discusses the different pathways taken in Truth’s life through divergent avenues of faith. She describes how Truth understood and dealt with the difference between those who believe that Jesus will return literally - in the flesh - and those who believe that Jesus will come in the Spirit, through his loyal, faithful people. “Don’t wait for the Lord to come to clean up this wicked world. But take hold and clean it up for yourselves (Koester, N. (2023). We Will Be Free (The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth) (1st ed., p. 210). William B Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI).

Truth’s life bore testimony to her recognition of the decadent and virulent evil of slavery. This portrait of Truth speaks of her hopes for the mutual recognition across the races of the need to put aside the differences to work together for a common cause: the upbuilding of the nation. Though she saw bitter defeats of such initiatives as those which prohibited discrimination in public spaces (due to private business ownership), Truth agitated and served as an example of someone who could now stand down, when confronted with compromises to her equal rights with anyone in enjoying the inalienable rights she was born to.

Though born in slavery, Truth died in the enduring hope of freedom. Her story, as shared by Nancyy Koester, ignites this eternal flame of hope and inspires us to keep it going. Whenever I want to elevate my reading experience, I will be called back again to this readable book with its wealth of insight into an earlier time in this nation and its faithful inspiration.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A good biography about a woman that many recognize but don't know much about.

For the past several years, I have joined the Renovare Book Club. The current book they are reading is The Narrative of Sojourner Truth. I was broadly aware of Sojourner Truth. I knew she was born enslaved, and at some point, she left slavery and sued for the freedom of a child. She won that case, one of the earliest examples of a formerly enslaved person winning a court case against a white person. I also was aware of her work as an abolitionist and feminist speaker and her most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman." But besides the very broad strokes, I was unfamiliar with her story. Because I knew her book was coming up, I picked up this recent addition to the Library of Religious Biography series to get some background.

Nancy Koester is a Christian history professor specializing in the 19th century, especially in how women participated in reform movements as a way of social uplift and ministry. Koester also has another volume in the Library of Religious Biography series on Harriet Beecher Stowe, which I have not read but put on my to-read list.

As I said yesterday in my review of Gateway to Freedom by Eric Foner about the Underground Railroad, several books I have read this year have overlapped in theme and content. Sojourner Truth was a character that was present in many 19th-century events. She was an abolitionist speaker who shared a stage with Garrison and Frederick Douglass. She was a part of early women's suffrage movements like the Akron Ohio Women's Convention in 1851, where she gave the Ain't I a Woman speech. She was involved in various Christian reform and utopian movements, including the Prophet Mathias, the Millerite Adventist camp meetings, the interracial commune-like Northampton Association of Education and Industry, and the later utopian communities around Battle Creek, Michigan.

Part of what struck me about her association with these utopian and perfectionist movements was that only these fringe movements would allow her to speak as a woman. She believed that soon after she originally left slavery with her infant daughter, she had a vision from Jesus that called her to preach. Her initial preaching was more spiritually oriented calls to repentance. But over time, justice and reform became a large part of her message, although she always understood her work as a type of ministry.

She was very interested in self-improvement as a formerly enslaved woman who worked with many former slaves before and after the Civil War. Sojourner Truth was enslaved in New York, where there were many slaves, but slavery there tended to be smaller and less specialized work. She cooked, cleaned, cared for children, and worked in the fields and with animals. In her later work for the Freedman's Beaurea, she realized that southern slavery was more specialized, leaving those former slaves less prepared for independent work because of the specialization and orientation toward field labor and less general labor. After the Civil War, when she was in her mid-60s, she continued to support herself through speaking and sales of her book, but like many others who had given their lives to the work of justice, she had not saved much for her later years, and by that point three of her five children had died, and the remaining two were more likely to need her support than able to support their mother.

The sexism and white superiority within both the abolitionist movement and the women's suffrage movement meant that Sojourner Truth often worked as a housekeeper to support her speaking instead of her speaking being enough to support her own livelihood. Before escaping slavery, she had five children. But as was common, children were sold. Koester has some details, but her children were likely the result of informal marriage and rape.

Her first partner, Robert, lived on a nearby farm. His enslaver objected to the relationship because Sojourner's enslaver would own any children. (At the time, Sojourner went by the name Isabell; it was only later that she chose Sojourner Truth.) Robert's owner and son beat Robert badly when he snuck to see Sojourner and forbid them from meeting again. Her enslaver, John Dumont, intervened to stop them from killing Roberts, but she never saw Robert again. He died a few years later, likely in his late 20s or early 30s. Truth's son, James, was the result of that relationship. Diana was the result of rape not long after but died in childhood. The final three children were with another enslaved man, Thomas, which seems likely to have been an arranged marriage by her enslaver.

John Dumont promised Isabell/Sojourner that if she continued to work well, he would free her a year before he was legally required to free her. After the birth of her youngest child, it became clear that Dumont would not free her as he had promised. One morning, just before dawn, Isabel/Sojourner took her daughter and just started walking. She eventually came to Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen's home, and they took her in. She worked for them until Dumont discovered her. Van Wagener paid Dumont $25 to keep him from taking her and the baby.

Not long after, Sojourner discovered that Dumont had sold her five-year-old son to an enslaver in Alabama, an act prohibited by the law. Sojourner walked to the courthouse and eventually found a lawyer willing to sue Dumont and the new owner to return her son. It took months, but he was returned, although he had been badly mistreated during that time. Soon after, she moved to New York City to earn more money to support herself and her children, although it doesn't appear that she ever had custody of all of her children at once.

Truth's story is far too long to recount fully, but it is extraordinary. I am about halfway through the Narrative of Sojourner Truth now. This autobiography was told in the third person (not unusual), but because Truth never learned to read or write, it was told to Olive Gilbert, who wrote the dictated autobiography. I am glad I am reading it with the additional context of reading a longer biography first. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth is widely available since it is in the public domain. It is around 100 pages, although a few different versions are available.

One last note is that at the end of this biography, there are three different editions of Truth's speech Aint' I a Woman, along with a discussion about that context. The most well-known version uses a 'slave dialect' more commonly associated with southern slave speech. Sojourner Truth was from New York, and her first language was Dutch. She didn't learn English until she was about nine years old, and the accent that she did have was a Dutch accent. Later editions have attempted to recreate the speech as it may have been without that interpretive lens.


My original review was posted on my blog at https://bookwi.se/we-will-be-free/

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found it hard to put down for the first third of the book -- Sojourner's younger years before she changed her name from Isabella. Her early life is an embodied account of northern slavery in the US, which is terrible and also critical to understand for contemporary Americans. I had forgotten that slavery existed in New York, and I did not realize how different northern and southern enslavement tended to be. I was saddened to read of the open vitriol and unjust treatment she faced throughout her life, and admired her persistent ability to remain undaunted. Sojourner's life had some surprising turns: how she freed herself from enslavement; her vision of Jesus; the Kingdom of Matthias religious cult; living in a Massachusetts abolitionist community; her post-Civil War campaigning for Black reparations through land in Kansas. However, she held very consistent values throughout: a profound belief that all people are made by God and therefore, there is no hierarchy of race, class, or gender. The author has very thoroughly documented and cited her sources, noted when sources are less reliable, and addressed the challenge of finding Sojourner's voice since all her spoken and written words were recorded by others. Sojourner attempted for a time to learn to read and write, but gave that up and used the help of friends and family as scribes.

Some areas of her life that I wish the book explained more -- even if just to say if no information could be found on those aspects of her life -- were her marriage and how that relationship apparently ended (?), and how that was perceived by her contemporaries, and more about how her children were raised. Some of them were born during her enslavement, and it was not clear to me from the text how closely she was involved with some of their lives as they grew up. Some of her children lived with her later in her life and I wondered how they had decided that.

Highly recommend.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful story of a iconic leader fighting oppression, racism, sexism

This is a well-researched and respectful biography of an amazing leader who rightfully offers razor sharp commentary on America's foundation in and tragic history of racism. That she offers does this from a place of love through her Christian faith shows her as the forerunner of the work of Martin Lutheran King Jr.

Her chosen name is apt as this physically and spiritually powerful woman traveled the country, delivering memorable & moving oratory, sometimes in hostile locations. Her time living with cultists is described in clear-eyed, helpful prose, as is the main part of her life making remarkable journeys giving speeches around the country. We learn why her name is prescient and quite apt.

I highly recommend this biography to better understand the United States.

[Lashandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We Will Be Free" by Nancy Koester offers a comprehensive exploration of Sojourner Truth's life and her profound impact on the abolitionist and Black feminist movements. Koester delves into intimate details of Truth's journey, from her early life to her transformation into a minister and public speaker. Despite her illiteracy, Truth's tireless activism is admirable. As the Civil War unfolded, her alliance with Harriet Tubman became evident, and her relationships with fellow abolitionists facilitated assistance for freedpeople. Through this book, Truth's unwavering faith and its role in her leadership become clear. I am grateful to NetGallery for providing the e-ARC, which enriched my understanding of this remarkable woman.

[Suzan Ball · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sojurner Truth is an iconic name in civil rights but most people seem to know very little about her. Her life story is the stuff of fiction. Born Isabella Baumfree, she was originally from New York State, her first language was Dutch, and she spoke English with a Dutch accent. Despite this, her well-known speech, “Ain’t I A Woman?” was written in Southern U.S. dialect. She didn’t know how to read and write so her speeches were dictated and published by other people.

This book sheds light on Truth’s religious faith and political activism making it a good purchase for any libraries needing material about Black History.

[Bob Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about Sojourner Truth’s extraordinary life. How a woman born a slave in New York lived through the hardships of slavery, losing connections with most of her family. Then finding freedom and becoming a tireless leader for the abolitionist movement and the feminist movement. Her life spanned the Antebellum period, Civil War and Reconstruction and she was actively involved with everyone she could persuade with her enthusiastic speeches, songs and works.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

[Marcia McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nancy Koester researched Sojourner Truth extensively. I learned much I didn't know both about Sojourner as well as the times in which she lived, especially slavery in the New York/New England area. I had difficulty sometimes in following what Koester was saying as she would backtrack and refer to earlier chapters. Despite this, I would recommend the book because of her excellent research.

[Jeanette Durkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional book about an extraordinary woman! This book offers a very detailed description of Sojourner Truths life. A definite must read!
I was provided an ARC copy from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Mindy Greiling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensively researched and meticulously written book that taught me much about Sojourner Truth. I especially liked how the author drew parallels and ties from Truth's life and words to issues we grapple with in the present day.

[Elizabeth Felicetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for the Christian Century: https://www.christiancentury.org/revi...

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed References to her appearance at events in Salem, Ohio and Akron, Ohio.

[Kim Miller]

Checked out from TRL but unable to finish before due date. Check out again!

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Will Be Free The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth by Nancy Koester

387 Pages
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Release Date: February 21, 2023

Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Slavery, Multicultural, Civil Rights

Sojourner Truth was born Isabelle Baumfree but changed her name to Sojourner Truth when she was freed. She spent her life spreading the word of Jesus Christ and helping other people. She traveled the northeast to the Midwest trying to make people understand their rights. She wanted all people freed and to have equal rights. She was a leader in the suffragist movement and kept a signature book.

This book is a chronicle of her life as a preacher traveling. She kept little money and gave most to the poor and homeless. She worked with organizations and approached the government to provide lands for freed people. The author covers areas of Sojourner’s life I was unaware of. As a project manager, one of my projects was the Sojourner Truth library in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Just when you think you know everything about a historical person, someone comes out with more information. If you like historical nonfiction or American history, this is a must read.