Sojourner Truth

Abolitionist and women's rights activist, c. 1797–1883. 1 explained quote.

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“Ain't I a woman?”

Sojourner Truth · 1851

≈ Paraphrase

“Ain't I a woman?”

Sojourner Truth · Speech at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention · 1851 · Activist

Truth did give a famous speech for women's rights in 1851, but the refrain “Ain't I a woman?” appears only in a version published twelve years later by another activist.

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About Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York State, with the name Isabella Baumfree, and spoke Dutch as her first language. She walked to freedom with her infant daughter in 1826, a year before New York’s emancipation law took effect, and later went to court to win back her son, who had been illegally sold into Alabama.

In 1843 she took the name Sojourner Truth and became a traveling preacher, abolitionist and campaigner for women’s rights. She could not read or write, so her speeches survive only in reports by others, and those reports sometimes differ sharply, which is why the most famous words credited to her need careful handling.