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Sojouner Truth

Sojourner Truth Documents Going On View In Kingston

June 13, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

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

Filed Under: Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Sojouner Truth

Documents Reveal Sojourner Truth’s Battle to Free Her Son from Slavery

March 15, 2022 by Alan J. Singer 1 Comment

Sojourner TruthIn 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

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Abolition, Archives, Black History, Legal History, New Paltz, New York State Archives, Political History, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, Ulster County, womens history

New Sojourner Truth State Park in Kingston Opening This Spring

March 4, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Sojourner Truth State ParkGovernor 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

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, empire state trail, Kingston, OPRHP, Political History, Scenic Hudson, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, State Parks, Ulster County, Underground Railroad, womens history

#MonumentalWomen Project (Podcast)

March 23, 2020 by Clare Sheridan Leave a Comment

crossroads of rockland historyThe 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)

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Historical Society of Rockland County, Podcasts, Political History, Rockland County, Sojouner Truth, Suffrage Movement, Susan B. Anthony, Underground Railroad, womens history

Central Park Women’s Rights Statue Unveiling Date Set

January 22, 2020 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

Rendering of the statue to be built in New Yorks Central ParkMonumental 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

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Central Park, Civil Rights, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, NYC, Political History, Public History, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, Suffrage Movement, Susan B. Anthony, Underground Railroad, womens history

The Prophet Matthias and Elijah the Tishbite

December 23, 2019 by Miguel Hernandez 7 Comments

MatthiasLong 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

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Abolition, African American History, Black History, Crime and Justice, Gender History, Legal History, Manhattan, New York City, Political History, Religion, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, Underground Railroad, Washington County, Westchester County, womens history

Central Park Statue Redesigned To Include Sojouner Truth

August 12, 2019 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

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

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Black History, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Historic Preservation, New York City, NYC, Political History, Sojouner Truth, Suffrage Movement, Underground Railroad, womens history

Proposals Sought for Sojourner Truth Monument

October 1, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Historic Preservation, Political History, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, State Parks, Underground Railroad, Walkway Over The Hudson, womens history

Slave Dwelling Project Shines Light on Northern Slavery

September 1, 2016 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

joseph mcgillJoseph 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

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Abolition, Black History, Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz, Political History, Slavery, Sojouner Truth, Ulster County, Underground Railroad, womens history

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