Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery about 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Known as Isabella, her parents were James and Betsey, the property of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. As a child she spoke only low Dutch and, like most slaves, never learned to read or write. About 1815 Isabella married Thomas, a fellow slave, and bore five children -- Diana (b. 1815), Peter (b. 1821), Elizabeth (b.1825), Sophia (b. 1826) and a fifth child who may have died in infancy. …

…Seneca Falls, New York (1981). In 1997 Battle Creek marked the 200th anniversary of Truth's birth with a year-long celebration. The events culminated with a national Woman's Conference, focusing on past and present issues in Truth's tradition, and the publication of a special edition of Heritage Battle Creek magazine. The continuing symbolic importance of Sojourner as a seeker after truth was recently recognized on an inter-planetary level when the Mars Pathfinder Microver was named in her honor.