Sojourner Truth Post Office

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3851.

Sojourner Truth's life and legacy have profoundly shaped our country. Born in 1797 in Ulster County, New York, with the name Isabella Baumfree, she spent her childhood enslaved. In 1826, she courageously and historically escaped the shackles of slavery when her enslaver, John Dumont, refused to honor the State of New York's law declaring the freedom of all enslaved human beings.

In 1843, she adopted the name Sojourner Truth as a testament to her faith and her pilgrimage of freedom and hope. She then committed to speaking around America about the truth of conditions for enslaved people and the rights of African Americans. Sojourner Truth worked with key figures in the abolitionist movement. After meeting with the esteemed Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1850, she, herself, became a passionate advocate for women's rights.

In 1851, Sojourner Truth delivered her landmark ``Ain't I a Woman?'' speech at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio. She declared that women and Black Americans deserved equal rights and dignity, and her speech was met with roars of applause and tears from activists who were united in calling for a woman's right to vote and for equal rights for all Americans.

She was one of the first Black women to win a court case against a White person, successfully freeing her son from slavery and bringing him back to New York in 1828.

In 1857, Sojourner moved to Harmonia, Michigan, and later to Battle Creek as a member of President Ulysses S. Grant's reelection campaign. She died in Battle Creek at 86 years old.

She was inducted in the National Women's Hall of Fame as a pioneer of social justice and became the first Black woman to be honored with a bust in the U.S. Capitol's Emancipation Hall.

I strongly urge my colleagues to honor the memory of Sojourner Truth by naming a post office in Battle Creek, Michigan, after this great American.

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