Sojourner Truth Quotes

A collection of quotes by Sojourner Truth.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. She was born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree in Swartekill, New York in 1797. After escaping slavery in 1826, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth, believing it was given to her by God to signify her new purpose in life.

Truth became a renowned and powerful speaker, tirelessly advocating for the abolition of slavery and women's rights. She drew on her own experiences as a former slave to bring attention to the harsh realities of slavery, delivering emotional speeches that captivated audiences. Her most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?", delivered at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention in Ohio, challenged prevailing notions of gender and intersectional oppression.

In addition to her advocacy work, Truth actively participated in the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved individuals escape to freedom. She also worked closely with prominent abolitionists and women's suffrage leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

Throughout her life, Truth traveled extensively, giving lectures and speeches across the United States, sharing her powerful story and committing herself to the fight for social justice. Her remarkable resilience and unwavering dedication to equality continue to inspire generations of activists. Sojourner Truth remains an important figure in American history, recognized for her significant contributions to the abolitionist and women's rights movements.

We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.

We do as much, we eat as much, we want as much.

Sojourner Truth

I tell you I can't read a book, but I can read de people.

I tell you I can't read a book, but I can read de people.

Sojourner Truth

The rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another.

The rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another.

Sojourner Truth

I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no ma

I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head me. And aren't I a woman?

Sojourner Truth

That little man in black there, he says women can't have as

That little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

Sojourner Truth

There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights

There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see, the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before.

Sojourner Truth

The Lord gave me 'Sojourner,' because I was to travel up an'

The Lord gave me 'Sojourner,' because I was to travel up an' down the land, showin' the people their sins an' bein' a sign unto them. Afterwards, I told the Lord I wanted another name 'cause everybody else had two names, and the Lord gave me 'Truth,' because I was to declare the truth to people.

Sojourner Truth

It is the mind that makes the body.

It is the mind that makes the body.

Sojourner Truth

Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.

Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.

Sojourner Truth

If women want any rights more than they's got, why don't the

If women want any rights more than they's got, why don't they just take them, and not be talking about it.

Sojourner Truth

A human being has been given an intellect to make choices, a

A human being has been given an intellect to make choices, and we know there are other food sources that do not require the killing of a creature that would protest being killed.

Mary Tyler Moore

I am not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.

I am not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.

Sojourner Truth

Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that lo

Those are the same stars, and that is the same moon, that look down upon your brothers and sisters, and which they see as they look up to them, though they are ever so far away from us, and each other.

Sojourner Truth