We Will Be Free - The Life & Faith of Sojourner Truth (Nancy Koester) - A Review
WE WILL BE FREE: The Life and Faith of Sojourner Truth.(Library of Religious Biography). By Nancy Koester. Forword by Alicia K. Jackson. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023
Slavery has been declared America's “Original Sin.”
Unfortunately, it is a sin that continues to be passed on from generation to
generation even if slavery as an institution has been eradicated. Nonetheless,
the effects of this sin can still be seen across the land as racism hasn’t
disappeared. Slavery has left its stain on our history, and efforts to avoid
the topic (as seen in the efforts to downplay or remove discussions of racism
in our schools and other institutions in the name of avoiding divisive topics)
cannot erase this reality. Thus, even
though many wish to avoid acknowledging this truth, the truth remains.
One way
to respond to those who wish to avoid this conversation is to lift up the
stories of those who endured slavery and worked to overturn it. Their voices
continue to ring out, we just need to listen. We know the names of some of
these individuals, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman. Numbered among the most powerful voices for
change in that era was Isabella Van Wagenen, better known as Sojourner Truth.
Her story is powerful and enlightening. Hers is the story of a woman born into
slavery, who gained freedom, and became an abolitionist, while also taking hold
of her calling to preach.
Nancy
Koester’s biography of Sojourner Truth is titled We Will Be Free: The Lifeand Faith of Sojourner Truth. It is the word “faith” that is a key
component of this story, as Koester stresses the importance of Sojourner
Truth’s faith to her work as an abolitionist and advocate for freed African
Americans following emancipation. Nancy Koester, the author of this important
biography, 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, a figure
who appears in this story as well.
While I
have known the name Sojourner Truth and that she was an important figure in the
abolitionist movement, I knew very little of her story, what made her an
important figure in that movement and in American history, until I read this compelling
biography. The fact that Sojourner Truth rose from slavery to become a leading
voice for civil rights for African Americans as well as advocating for women's
rights, while never learning to read or write, catches one's attention. At
least it should. How does someone rise from such a place to become an important
voice for justice and faith?
This is
the story of a woman named Isabella, who was born into slavery in New York State
around 1797. It may surprise many (I didn't know this), but slavery remained
legal in the state of New York until 1827. It was especially prominent among
Dutch farmers. Therefore, Isabella grew up speaking Dutch and a dialect known
as Afro-Dutch. While Dutch was her first language, she would learn English as
she moved out of that context. The context of her early life is also reflected
in her Dutch surname Van Wagenen, a name she took from the surname of the last family
into which she was enslaved before she fled her situation a year before the emancipation
of all slaves took place in New York in 1827. We learn why this is true as we
read the book.
After
Isabella escaped slavery (in New York), she became active as a preacher and an activist.
In the course of this movement into preaching and activism, she took on a new
name, the name Sojourner Truth. As Sojourner Truth, she would become a powerful
advocate for abolition, civil rights, and women's rights. Again, she did this
even though she never learned to read or write. What she possessed was a keen
mind, a great memory, and a powerful speaking voice. Thus, hers is a story
worthy of attending to.
Koester
takes us on a journey that begins with Isabella’s birth into slavery in the
Hudson Valley of New York. It is a journey that, as is often the case with
slavery, her movement from one owner to another. We learn of the birth of her children,
one of whom was sold to a family in the South even though that was illegal in
New York. We learn about how her commitment to the cause of justice began as
she sought to reclaim her son from slavery so that he might return to the
family. That required going to court, which she did, and she successfully
brought her son home. What is interesting is that even as Isabella fought for
justice, she was also a loyal and hard worker. Therefore, she was a valuable
piece of property to her owners. While she was loyal, in the end, she decided
to flee from slavery in 1826 and moved to New York City. Due to her willingness
to work hard, she gained employment with several wealthy families. At the same
time, she got drawn into several millennialist movements that were running
rampant during that period. This included the movement led by William Miller.
What these millennialist movements did was provide her with the opportunity to
develop her sense of call to preach. They also provided her with community,
something she deeply desired. Eventually, she would become part of a community
of abolitionists in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was there that she became
acquainted with the leading abolitionists of the day, as well as receiving the 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.
In
Koester’s telling of Sojourner’s story of her life and faith, we encounter a
woman who became a major abolitionist figure, appearing at abolitionist rallies
and women’s rights conventions. In these appearances, she told her story and
called for change in the nation. In 1851, she published her memoir, which was
told to a friend who transcribed her story, while also embellishing it.
Therefore, there are elements in the memoir that are less than accurate. One of
the areas of concern regarding the inaccuracies in the memoir surrounds the
question of her age. Her co-author made Truth between ten and twenty years
older than she actually was. One of the struggles that Truth had, according to
Nancy Koester, has to do with control of her image. She had to fight hard to
control her image, and one way she did this was to have her picture taken, from
which she had picture cards published. She would then sell the cards to help
support her work. She was also concerned about the way her speeches were
reported. While she requested that her speeches be transcribed in standard
English, reporters and others would record her speaking in plantation English,
something she never used. It’s important to remember that while she was born
into slavery, it was in New York and not the South. Additionally, she was
enslaved by Dutch farmers, so her first language was Dutch and the English she
learned was standard English. Nevertheless, despite her attempts to have her
speeches reported accurately, the press and even Harriet Beecher Stowe
continued to portray her as speaking in plantation English.
Eventually,
prior to the Civil War, Sojourner Truth made her home in Battle Creek,
Michigan. While she spent significant time on the road, Battle Creek would
remain her home until her death. When she was on the road, she spoke boldly on
matters including abolition and women’s rights. Then after the end of the Civil
War, she focused her attention on achieving civil rights for African Americans,
especially the freedmen. One of her efforts was to encourage freedmen to move
to places such as Kansas, where she believed they could make a home and build a
life. The way she supported herself in pursuing these aims, was through the
sale of her memoir, which was updated several times, and her picture cards.
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. She might not have the
ability to read or write (she attempted to learn, but found the effort
difficult), but throughout her life, she would have the Bible read to her,
which allowed her to memorize and make use of the scripture in her speeches and
most importantly in her preaching. I found it interesting that as she sought to
learn the message of the Bible, she preferred to have children read the Bible to
her. She preferred the children to adults because the children didn't try to
explain the Bible to her.
Sojourner
Truth is perhaps best known to many for her "Ain't I a Woman" speech,
which she first delivered in 1851 to the Women's Rights Convention in Akron,
Ohio. Three different versions of the speech can be found in the book's
appendix. In the version reported by the Anti-Slavery Bugle in 1851, she
spoke of her physical and intellectual strength as a woman. She reported that
she could outwork any man and that “I am as strong as any man that is now” (p.
221). As for a woman causing a man to sin, she declared: “Well, if woman upset
the world, do give her a chance to set it right side up again” (p. 222).
Unfortunately, the version reported in 1863 in the National Anti-Slavery
Standard, puts her speech in plantation English (pp. 222-223). A 1972 version offers
a standard English version, and here we can hear the famous plea: “Ain’t I a
woman?” She declared and then asked: “I have borne thirteen children, and seen
most all sold off into slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief,
none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?” (p. 224).
Sojourner
Truth was a leading voice for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and
civil rights for freedmen after the way. Thus, she was a formidable woman to
the very end of her life. Nevertheless, she endured poverty most of her life.
That is due in large part to the fact that whatever money she did gain from
selling her memoir or her picture cards, was used to support others in need.
While she purchased a home in Battle Creek it was essentially a barn. What she
did, however, in the course of a very long and fruitful life that began in
slavery, was leave a lasting legacy through her constant 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 often remain a mystery to us. We know the name and
perhaps a portion of the story, but ultimately we know very little about the
person. I think Sojourner Truth is one of those people whose name is
compelling, but we may not know why she carried this name. In the course of the
book, we learn why she chose this name. She spent her life as a sojourner, wandering
the country proclaiming the truth. That truth, for her, was rooted in and
empowered by her faith. That is why this particular biography is so important.
Throughout the book, Koester keeps Sojourner Truth's faith front and center. She
might have sojourned in what many would call fringe communities, but she often
did so because it was those communities that gave women, especially Black women
the opportunity to preach. That is important to the story, for Sojourner Truth
might be a powerful speaker, and that ability was rooted in her call to preach.
When it
comes to her message, it focused on caring for the welfare of the other. Thus, I find it
intriguing that Sojourner Truth’s last speech took place in Lansing, Michigan.
That speech was given to the Michigan Legislature, which was debating a bill
that would authorize the use of hanging as capital punishment. She spoke to the
legislature calling for them to reject capital punishment. There in June 1881,
not long before her death, she spoke against this law, because she could not
believe 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 the use of hanging
as punishment. 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. How sad that even today we continue to embrace capital
punishment. Indeed, only recently a legislator in a state somewhere in the
United States called for the reinstitution of hanging. Sojourner Truth was
correct in her critique then and would, in my mind, continue to be right today!
The
books that form the Eerdmans series Library of Religious Biography, at
least the ones I’ve read, have been informative and thoughtful. They lift up
the role of faith and religion in the lives of the figures that are explored
and do so in a way that stays clear of hagiography. That is true here. WeWill Be Free tells the story of Sojourner Truth as a truly human person,
with her foibles as well as her glories. I believe Nancy Koester is to be
commended for bringing to life the powerful story of a woman whose voice rang
out at important moments during her lifetime, and whose voice still needs to be
heard, especially at this moment when so many people, many of whom claim to be Christians,
see to whitewash our history by ignoring the truth of our history. Slavery is
the original sin in the United States. It has stained our history and has left
its mark on our society to this very moment. Thus, we need to hear the voice of
Sojourner Truth cry out to us, calling for us to pay attention to our history
and our current realities. In this biography, we read stories that require our
attention, and these stories a beautifully and powerfully told. So, let us attend
to the words of truth delivered by a woman who took the name Sojourner Truth.
As we do so we’ll learn why she chose that name.
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