Overview

Sojourner Truth: ex-slave and fiery abolitionist, figure of imposing physique, riveting preacher and spellbinding singer who dazzled listeners with her wit and originality. Straight-talking and unsentimental, Truth became a national symbol for strong black women-indeed, for all strong women. Like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, she is regarded as a radical of immense and enduring influence; yet, unlike them, what is remembered of her consists more of myth than of personality. Now, in a masterful blend of scholarship and sympathetic understanding, eminent black historian Nell Irvin Painter goes beyond the myths, words, and photographs to uncover the life of a complex woman who was born into slavery and died a legend. Inspired by religion, Truth transformed herself from a domestic servant named Isabella into an itinerant pentecostal preacher; her words of empowerment have inspired black women and poor people the world over to this day. As an abolitionist and a feminist, Truth defied the notion that slaves were male and women were white, expounding a fact that still bears repeating: among blacks there are women; among women, there are blacks. No one who heard her speak ever forgot Sojourner Truth, the power and pathos of her voice, and the intelligence of her message. No one who reads Painter's groundbreaking biography will forget this landmark figure and the story of her courageous life.

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9781324050599

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Reviews

"An exquisitely detailed study of a brilliant and powerful life.--Shirlee Taylor Haislip ""San Francisco Chronicle"" What Painter does as a first-rate historian is peel away the myths and legends so that we might get at a historical Sojourner Truth...Judicious and balanced.--Gerald Early ""Chicago Tribune"""

"""An exquisitely detailed study of a brilliant and powerful life.""--Shirlee Taylor Haislip ""San Francisco Chronicle"" ""What Painter does as a first-rate historian is peel away the myths and legends so that we might get at a historical Sojourner Truth. . . . Judicious and balanced.""--Gerald Early ""Chicago Tribune"""

"""A pathbreaking biography. It should command the widest popular attention and profound scholarly attention."" -- David Levering Lewis, author of W. E. B. DuBois ""What Painter does as a first-rate historian is peel away the myths and legends so that we might get at a historical Sojourner Truth.… Judicious and balanced."" -- Gerald Early - Chicago Tribune ""An exquisitely detailed study of a brilliant and powerful life."" -- Shirlee Taylor Haislip - San Francisco Chronicle"

Author Information

Nell Irvin Painter is the award-winning author of many books, including Standing at Armageddon and The History of White People. She is the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, at Princeton University and lives in East Orange, New Jersey, and the Adirondacks.

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