1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,120 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that on covers history one 4 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: day at a time. Today is June one, nineteen. The 5 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: day was June one, eight forty three. Isabella Bomfree changed 6 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: her name to so Journer Truth. Truth was an abolitionist 7 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,160 Speaker 1: and activists who dedicated her life to championing human rights. 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: Isabella Bomfrey was born around in Ulster County, New York. 9 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: Her father, James, was nicknamed Bomfree, and her mother, named Elizabeth, 10 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: was known as a mau mau bit. She was the 11 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: second youngest of thirteen children born to her parents, but 12 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: her siblings were sold or given away before she was born. 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: In her younger years, Isabella lived on an estate that 14 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: Dutch colonists owned, and the first language she spoke was 15 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,000 Speaker 1: low Dutch, but when her owner died, she was put 16 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: up for auction and separated from her parents. Her next 17 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: owner was English speaking, but she was mistreated for her 18 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:28,119 Speaker 1: inability to understand English. After that, a Dutch tavern keeper 19 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: purchased her, and in eighteen ten, John Dumont purchased her 20 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: for three hundred dollars. Dumont enslaved her for two decades. 21 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: She performed heart labor, including tasks like planting, plowing, cultivating 22 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: and harvesting crops, milking animals, sewing, cooking, and cleaning the house. 23 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 1: Dumont's wife, Elizabeth, despised her and John raped her. That 24 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: rape resulted in her child named Diana. When she was 25 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: slaved at the Dumonts, she fell in love with an 26 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: enslaved man named Robert from a nearby farm, but Robert's 27 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: owner beat him to death for meeting Isabella. Years later, 28 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: she met another enslaved man named Thomas, and had three 29 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: children with him, named Peter, Elizabeth, and Sophia. At the 30 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the 31 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, laws in New York provided for the emancipation 32 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: of enslaved black people, though there were stipulations and many 33 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: continued to be enslaved. Dumont agreed to emancipate Isabella before 34 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: she was set to be free by law, but he 35 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: renegged on his promise and she fled with her daughter Sophia. 36 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: She found refuge with the van Wagenens in New Paul's, 37 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: New York, who paid her twenty dollars for her work 38 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: until the date of her emancipation July four, eight seven, 39 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: but Dumont had illegally sold Isabella's son, Peter south to Alabama. 40 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,919 Speaker 1: She was dedicated to finding Peter, and after taking her 41 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: son's case to illegal hearing at court, Peter was returned 42 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: from Alabama and freed. While she was staying with the 43 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: van Wagenens, she became a devout Christian. In eighteen twenty nine, 44 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: she and Peter moved to New York City. She became 45 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: a housekeeper, and when she was accused of being an 46 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: accomplice to murder and poisoning a couple, she was acquitted 47 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: of her charges and turned around and filed a slander 48 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: suit against the couple that claimed she tried to poison them. 49 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: She won the suit, but Isabella would meet more misfortune. 50 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: Her son, Peter, had taken a job on a whaling 51 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: ship in eighteen thirty nine. The ship he was supposed 52 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: to be on returned to New York in eighteen forty two, 53 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: but he was not on it and she never heard 54 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: from him again. The next year, Isabella decided to change 55 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: her life drastically as a Methodist. She said she was 56 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: called to speak God Truth across the countryside on June 57 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: one three, she took the name Sojourner Truth. In her autobiography, 58 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: she said the following. My name was Isabella. But when 59 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: I left the House of Bondage, I left everything behind. 60 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to keep nothing of Egypt on me, 61 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: and so I went to the Lord and asked him 62 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: to give me a new name. And the Lord gave 63 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: me so Journer because I was to travel up and 64 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: down the land, showing the people their sins and being 65 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: a sign unto them. Afterwards, I told the Lord I 66 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: wanted another name, because everybody else had two names, and 67 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 1: the Lord gave me Truth because I was to declare 68 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: the truth to the people. After she moved to Massachusetts 69 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: and joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, utopian 70 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: community that was a stop on the underground railroad. She 71 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: met abolitionists like Frederick Douglas and William Lloyd Garrison. As 72 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: mention over slavery rose in the country, Truth began a 73 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: public lecture tour and traveled to states talking about her 74 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: experiences as an enslaved woman. She bought a house in Northampton, 75 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,479 Speaker 1: which she paid off in a few years by selling 76 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: photos of herself. Throughout the rest of her life, she 77 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: continued to travel and advocate for the rights of women 78 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,840 Speaker 1: and black people. She spoke out for abolition, women suffrage, desegregation, 79 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: and land grants performerly enslaved people, and she recruited black 80 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: men for the Union Army during the Civil War. In 81 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: her later years, she became skeptical of interracial cooperation and 82 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: supported racial separation and of black western homeland. She died 83 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty three in Battle Creek, Michigan. I'm Eve 84 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more about 85 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. If there's something that 86 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: I missed in an episode, you can share it with 87 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,799 Speaker 1: everybody else on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at E d 88 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: I h C podcast. And if you want to learn 89 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,599 Speaker 1: more about people who rebelled and resisted the status quo 90 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 1: in history, you can listen to the new podcast Unpopular. 91 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: It's a show that I host about people in history 92 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: who really challenged the conventions of their day and took 93 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: a stand against them. Thanks for joining me on this 94 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: trip through time. See you here in the exact same 95 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: spot tomorrow. 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