Sojourner Truth and the meaning of literacy

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📚 Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write, but her incredible power to communicate complicates our understanding of what it means to be literate.

⏱ 335 words, 1.5 minutes 

Who was Sojourner Truth? 

• A Black woman activist from upstate New York who spoke, preached, and advocated for causes inspired by her religious beliefs. 

• Originally born Isabella Bomfree and enslaved at birth in 1797, she freed herself in 1827 and renamed herself Sojourner Truth after experiencing a religious awakening in 1843. 

What did she believe? 

• Truth spoke often and persuasively in favor of abolishing slavery, promoting greater rights for women, and limiting the sale of alcoholic beverages. 

• Arguably her most famous speech, called “Ain’t I A Woman?” spoke to the particular experience of Black women in the United States facing intersecting prejudices against their race and gender. 

Why teach about her? 

• Sojourner Truth was a key figure in 19th-century social movements, and her life helps us understand the Abolition movement, the Women’s Suffrage movement, and the Temperance movement.

• Truth’s identity as a formerly-enslaved Black woman complicates historical narratives that place educated white women at the center of social movements in the 1800s. 

To what extent was Sojourner Truth “literate”? 

• Truth never learned to read or write in the traditional sense, but she had a powerful ability to communicate ideas and to “read” people.

• Despite her lack of formal education, Truth was an incredibly successful speaker and author (via dictation). 

• In addition to the spoken word, Truth communicated powerfully through images, including calling cards (“cartes-de-visite”) that she sold with her photograph on them. 

How should I teach about Sojourner Truth? 

• Start by looking through the Library of Congress’ research guide on Sojourner Truth, and see if there are particular sources that speak to themes covered in your class. 

• Explore Truth’s use of images, particularly portraits, to communicate ideas and support her advocacy work. 

• Design a Zoom In inquiry activity to help students notice key details and make meaning from images of Sojourner Truth and her contemporaries. 

• Extend your study of the power of images by examining photographs created in the aftermath of riots against integration of the Sojourner Truth Houses in 1942.  

Where can I find more sources?

• Click here for an album of primary and secondary sources related to Sojourner Truth.

• If you haven’t already, join the Differentiating Instruction with Primary Sources group at the TPS Teachers Network.