The Narrative Of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave

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Introduction Abraham Lincoln once said, “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves” (Abraham Lincoln's Letter to Henry L. Pierce). Who has the right to decide who has freedom and who does not have freedom? It is very imperative to understand the importance of slavery and its impact on America. In the United States, slavery was an appalling action against another human being that lasted two hundred and forty five critical years. Over these years, many slaves died trying to get their freedom by trying to escape. They searched hastily for pathways to freedom despite knowing how many slaves had been killed, the risk of getting caught, or the harsh consequences that could occur. Although slaves may have felt like there was…show more content…
They wrote and spoke to end slavery, and some even actively lead slaves to freedom. The following people are helpful in understanding how successful they were or if they were not. Sojourner Truth was an African-American abolitionist. She was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her baby daughter to freedom in 1826 (Bio.com). When she first escaped, she faced many hardships. Soon, she decided to devote her life to the abolition of slavery. There is a book called The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave. “This inspiring memoir, first published in 1850, recounts the struggles of a distinguished African-American abolitionist and champion of women's rights” (Narrative of Sojourner Truth). “Truth met a number of leading abolitionists at Northampton, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass and David Ruggles” (Bio.com). She met George Thomas who was an abolitionist, and together they started to speak out too others about the horrid of slavery. They spoke out to crowds about how slaves should be freed and have the same rights as every other human being. Soon following, she became an important abolitionist leader and continued to grow and gain momentum. Since she was an escaped slave, she was able to give facts about how bad slavery was since she experienced it firsthand. This caused an increase in kind audiences that listened to what she had to say.…show more content…
Slavery did not end overnight in America. It lasted hundreds of years and finally ended with the help from abolitionists. It was a horrible and racist time period. The things that slave owners would do the slave was very unhuman like. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally” (Local News | The News Tribune). We may never understand why or how slave owners could treat another human being in such an awful manner. The fight to end slavery was unquestionably the lengthiest and most unpleasant dispute in the United States history. I learned that slaves were degraded as humans and they were treated like animals, unfair and not equal to the white people. They had no rights and owners could do whatever they liked with their slaves. Slaves tried to escape in several different ways but resistance to slavery caused many issues with the white owners. It took the hard work and dedication of white and black abolitionists that worked together on an equal basis and many slaves dying to reach freedom before legislative action was taken to free
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