This episode of A New York Minute in History podcast commemorates Women’s History Month by uncovering the groundbreaking 1828 court case of Sojourner Truth, a self-emancipated Black woman who took on a white slave owner to free her young son from slavery in the South. [Read more…] about Sojourner Truth’s Groundbreaking 1828 Court Case
Sojouner Truth
Sojourner Truth Day Declared in New York State
Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed legislation S1480-A/A6583-A to establish November 26th as Sojourner Truth Day in the State of New York, named in honor of the legendary abolitionist and women’s rights advocate who was born in Ulster County.
Sojourner Truth was born in the Hudson Valley in 1797 and was enslaved in New York until she escaped in 1826. [Read more…] about Sojourner Truth Day Declared in New York State
Sojourner Truth: How An Enslaved Dutch Speaker Became A Black Liberation Icon
On March 31st, 1817 the New York State Legislature decided that enslavement within its borders had to come to an end. Final emancipation would occur on July 4th, 1827. Coincidentally, the date of choice was almost exactly two centuries after the Dutch West India Company’s yacht Bruynvisch arrived at Manhattan on August 29th, 1627. [Read more…] about Sojourner Truth: How An Enslaved Dutch Speaker Became A Black Liberation Icon
State Museum Acquires Women’s Rights Pioneers Central Park Monument Model
The New York State Museum in Albany has acquired the Women’s Rights Pioneers Central Park Monument model. The statue features three nationally recognized leaders of the women’s rights movement, all hailing from New York State: Sojourner Truth (Ulster County), Susan B. Anthony (Rochester), and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Johnstown, Seneca Falls, and NYC). It will be included as part of the Museum’s new exhibition, “Women Who Lead.” [Read more…] about State Museum Acquires Women’s Rights Pioneers Central Park Monument Model
Preview The New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston on Sunday
Decades before she took her fabled name, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth was born enslaved in Ulster County, NY under the name Isabella.
Covering more than 500 acres and a mile of Hudson River shoreline, the future Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston, NY, was once an industrial site for production of cement, quarry stone, and ice harvesting. Sojourner Truth State Park will be first new State Park since 2019. [Read more…] about Preview The New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston on Sunday
Sojourner Truth Documents Going On View In Kingston
Decades before she took her fabled name, abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth was born enslaved in Ulster County, NY under the name Isabella. It was as Isabella that the young Truth took action to secure the return of her five-year son Peter, who had been illegally sold to in plantation in Alabama.
With the help of local attorneys, Isabella filed a Habeas Corpus Petition in the Ulster County Courthouse in March of 1828. And it was this Isabella that prevailed on that Petition for her son’s freedom, marking the first time in American history that a Black woman sued a white man – and won. (You can read about that here). [Read more…] about Sojourner Truth Documents Going On View In Kingston
Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery
In February 2022, the New York State Archives announced that archivists had uncovered court records detailing the 1828 legal battle by Sojourner Truth to secure her enslaved son Peter’s freedom. According to archivist Jim Folts, this case was the first time in United States history that a Black woman successfully sued a White man for a family member’s freedom.
After passage of the New York State Gradual Emancipation Act in 1799, some slaveholders illegally sold enslaved Africans to Southern planters for the expanding cotton industry. When Sojourner Truth, then known as Isabella Van Wagenen, escaped from enslavement in 1826, her former “owner,” John J. Dumont of New Paltz, Ulster County, NY, sold her five-year old son Peter to Eleazer Gedney who planned to take the boy with him to England.
When this plan fell through, Eleazer Gedney sold Peter to his brother, Solomon Gedney, who resold Peter to their sister’s husband, a man named Fowler, who was a wealthy Alabama planter. [Read more…] about Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery
New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring
Governor Hochul has announced that a new State Park to open to the public later this spring in Kingston, Ulster County, NY will be named for 19th century African American abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth.
Covering more than 500 acres and a mile of Hudson River shoreline, this park was once an industrial site for production of cement, quarry stone, and ice harvesting. Sojourner Truth State Park will be first new State Park since 2019. [Read more…] about New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring
#MonumentalWomen Project (Podcast)
The March 2020 episode of “Crossroads of Rockland History” focused on the #MonumentalWomen Project.
Pam Elam (President, Monumental Women) and Meredith Bergmann (Sculptor), appeared to speak about the all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization, created in 2014 with the initial goal of breaking the bronze ceiling and creating the first statue of real women in Central Park’s 166-year history. [Read more…] about #MonumentalWomen Project (Podcast)
Central Park Women’s Rights Statue Unveiling Date Set
Monumental Women has set a date for the unveiling of the Women’s Rights Pioneers Monument on the Mall in the City of New York’s Central Park. The statue is the first statue depicting a real woman in the Park’s 167-year History.
The original statue of women’s rights pioneers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony was redesigned to include Sojourner Truth after criticism that the original design excluded the contributions of people of color. It’s being sculpted by Meredith Bergmann. [Read more…] about Central Park Women’s Rights Statue Unveiling Date Set
The Prophet Matthias and Elijah the Tishbite
Long before the fictional and shocking “Peyton Place” of TV and film fame came along in the late 1950s, and early 1960s there was an actual suburban community where its residents were roiled by rampant scandal, moral and religious hypocrisy and a sensational a murder in their midst. [Read more…] about The Prophet Matthias and Elijah the Tishbite
Central Park Statue Redesigned To Include Sojouner Truth
The Monumental Women’s Statue Fund announced a redesigned statue to honor pioneering women’s rights advocates – the first statue depicting real women in the 165-year history of New York City’s Central Park.
The redesign comes on the heals of criticism that the original design excluded the contributions of people of color.
The amended design, which still includes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but now adds Sojourner Truth, is expected to be released on Women’s Equality Day, August 26th. [Read more…] about Central Park Statue Redesigned To Include Sojouner Truth
Proposals Sought for Sojourner Truth Monument
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced a request for proposals (RFP) from potential private sector partners to design, build and install a monument in commemoration of famed abolitionist and suffragette Sojourner Truth.
The monument of Sojourner Truth will be sited at the Walkway Over the Hudson along the Empire State Trail in Ulster County, where she was born. Truth was born into slavery circa 1797, sold three times, and ultimately escaped to freedom in 1826. She went on to become a noted abolitionist and women’s rights advocate until her death in 1883. [Read more…] about Proposals Sought for Sojourner Truth Monument
Slave Dwelling Project Shines Light on Northern Slavery
Joseph McGill, founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, will spend Friday night, September 9th, in a cellar kitchen at Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz as part of the historian’s ongoing mission to bring awareness to former slave dwellings’ existence, history, and need for preservation.
Six SUNY New Paltz students and several members of the public will be invited to join McGill and his associate Terry James to share in this symbolic return to a time when even northern households enslaved Africans. [Read more…] about Slave Dwelling Project Shines Light on Northern Slavery