Sojourner Truth (Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century)
Early Life
Sojourner Truth, originally Isabella Baumfree, was born into slavery in Hurley, Ulster County, New York, around 1797. Her parents were slaves owned by Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh, a prosperous farmer of Dutch descent. Her father, James, a tall man said to be “straight as a tree” (for which he received the Dutch surname of “Baumfree”), was of African and possibly American Indian descent. Her mother, Betsey, also known as “Mau Mau Bett,” was of African lineage; through family and biblical stories, she instilled in Isabella and her ten siblings the value of...
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