This fascinating biography tells the story of nineteenth-century America through the life of one of its most magnetic and influential characters: Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth's America examines the complex dynamics of the times in which Truth acted, highlighting the transnational contours of her spirituality and early life as a slave, her awakening during nineteenth-century America's progressive surge, and her ascendancy as a rousing preacher and political orator despite her inability to read and write. Sojourner Truth's America provides important insights into the turbulent cultural and political climate of the age while also separating the many myths from the facts concerning this legendary American figure. Margaret Washington is a professor of history and American studies at Cornell University. She is the author of the award-winning book ''A Peculiar People'': Slave Religion and Community-Culture Among the Gullahs and the editor of The Narrative of Sojourner Truth.
a word on language ix acknowledgments xi abbreviations xix introduction: the three lives of sojourner truth part I bell hardenbergh and slavery times in the hudson river valley 1. African and Dutch Religious Heritage 9 2. ''Home Is Like a Grave'' 18 Domesticity, Spirituality, and Patriarchy 3. ''Better to Me Than a Man'' 32 Female Life, Labor, and Slavery in Rural New York part II isabella van wagenen: a preaching woman 4. Like Hagar and Her Children 51 Long Walks to Freedom 5. ''A Rushing Mighty Wind'' 69 Isabella's Baptism of the Spirit 6. Sanctification and Perfection 81 Becoming a Religious Radical 7. ''I Will Crush Them with the Truth'' 98 The Commune of Matthias part III sojourner truth and the antislavery apostles 8. The Antislavery Vanguard, 1833-1843 129 9. ''The Spirit Calls Me There'' 141 A Sojourner Is Chosen 10. A Holy City 156 Sojourner Truth and the Northampton Community 11. The Cold Water Army, Olive Gilbert, and Sojourner's Narrative 175 12. The Bloodhound Bill and Intensified Activism 191 13. The New York Campaign 206 14. ''God, You Drive'' 221 The Sojourner in Ohio 15. ''I Go in for Agitatin''' 248 16. Truth Is Powerful 272 17. Proclaim Liberty throughout the Land 298 18. ''Was Woman True?'' 334 Sojourner, Suffrage, and Civil Rights 19. ''I Am on My Way to Kansas'' 355 epilogue: well done, good and faithful servant 377 notes 381 index 455 Illustrations follow pages 8, 50, 128.
''[A] wonderfully detailed and insightful account of Sojourner Truth's life.'' Journal of American History ''This scholarly biography, meticulously researched ... is destined to be the definitive study for a generation. Highly recommended.'' Choice ''An interesting and persuasive reading. By forcing us to give up a sanitized, desexualized picture of Truth ... Washington does us a great service-- one of many performed by this exciting and comprehensive book.'' Women's Review of Books ''A solid, welcome addition to the literature on antebellum women, blacks, religion, and reform. This book will be around for a very long time.'' Paul E. Johnson, co-author of The Early American Republic, 1789-1829 ''In this beautifully rendered account, Margaret Washington wields the extraordinary life of a single black woman to illuminate and evaluate the dynamic cultural and political landscape of nineteenth-century America. Engaging enslavement and emancipation, religious perfectionism and social activism, civil war and civil rights, Sojourner Truth's America captures a radical vision of a better world and the challenges to achieving it.'' Nancy A. Hewitt, author of Southern Discomfort: Women's Activism in Tampa, Florida, 1880s-1920s ''In a tour de force of extraordinary research, powerful writing, and compassionate historical reconstruction, Margaret Washington has restored to us the full life of the woman later known as Sojourner Truth. I particularly appreciated the careful, original, illuminating account of Truth's early years as a Dutch-African slave. Women's history, the history of slavery, and U.S. history in general are the richer for this important book.'' Ellen Carol DuBois, co-author of Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents
