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	# 2019-12-14 - Narrative of Sojourner Truth

	Sweet is the virgin honey, though the wild bee store it in a reed;
	And bright the jewelled band that circleth an Ethiop's arm; Pure are
	the grains of gold in the turbid stream of the Ganges; And fair the
	living flowers that spring from the dull cold sod. Wherefore, thou
	gentle student, bend thine ear to my speech, For I also am as thou
	art; our hearts can commune together: To meanest matters will I
	stoop, for mean is the lot of mortal; I will rise to noblest themes,
	for the soul hath a heritage of glory.

	https://volkergoetze.bandcamp.com/track/amank-dionti

	# Introduction

	[Harriet Beecher] Stowe seemed genuinely impressed, and perhaps
	discomfited, by this sinewy African-American woman in Quaker dress.
	She noted Sojourner's imperious carriage, extreme height, and large,
	sparkling eyes. "I do not recollect ever to have been conversant
	with anyone who had more of that silent and subtle power which we
	call personal presence than this woman," wrote Stowe. She added that
	the "self-possessed" Sojourner was perfectly "at her ease,"
	displaying "an unconscious superiority" mixed with humor as she
	looked down upon the renowned author.

	Perhaps the most ruthless contradiction in interpreting Dutch slavery
	as mild or paternalistic relates to emancipation. Before 1785,
	slaveholders freeing slaves posted 200 pounds security against slave
	dependency on the community. After this law was changed, some
	masters freed slaves past their prime but not yet fifty as a means of
	avoiding their care during illness or old age. Such a fate awaited
	Isabella's parents. The forests of Ulster County housed many
	elderly, infirm former slaves dependent on goodwill in inclement
	weather and the sun's warmth in fair seasons. Rather than care for
	"worn out" slaves, Dutch slave masters, like Southern planters, put
	them out "to pasture," like so many cattle.

	As mentioned earlier, for Sojourner, naming was a truly symbolic act
	fraught with timeless meaning. She named herself twice, and each
	change was a special self-interpretation in her creating of her own
	identity.

	Knowing what fate awaited the young Isabelle and her brother, [their
	mother] Elizabeth prepared them spiritually by imparting beliefs that
	encouraged optimism and a reason for being. The out-of-doors was
	their temple. "Under the sparkling vault of heaven," Elizabeth
	taught her children "there is a God, who hears and sees you..." She
	taught them to call upon God for help "when you are beaten, or
	cruelly treated, or fall into any trouble."

	The connection between literacy and freedom was not lost on
	slaveholders, which is why most Southern states forbade reading and
	writing among bondspeople.

	But not all narratives were authored by literate blacks. It is
	important to remember that for African-Americans who professed a
	spiritual calling, extraliterary forms were a more meaningful
	aesthetic vehicle and a source of power outside the prejudices of the
	patriarchal order. Furthermore, nonliterary visual and oral
	expression tied spiritual narratives closer to traditional African
	aesthetic practices and represented more authentically the collective
	antebellum black experience and voice--that of a people socially and
	politically marginalized, almost completely excluded from both formal
	and informal educational structure.

	Her mother's mysticism did not come from an institutional church.
	Taking her children out at night to commune with the stars, moon, and
	a god was not taught Elizabeth by the Dutch Reformed Church. These
	customs were undoubtedly vestiges of African ontology.

	Books did not speak to Sojourner Truth. As she said on more than one
	occasion, "You read books, I talk to God."

	Broken pieces of white pottery found on graves in the South and pipes
	coming out of graves in the North belonged to funerary rites
	symbolizing the flight of the spirit from the body. The shells,
	glass, and other objects reflecting light found on these graves
	express the flash of the spirit separating from the human form and
	traveling to the sacred world where all is light and brilliance. [I
	have seen a grave in Eugene, Oregon decorated with shells and glass.]

	Speaking of her determination to regain her son Peter, she exclaimed,
	"Oh my God! I know'd I'd have him again. Why, I felt so tall
	WITHIN--I felt as if the power of a nation was with me."

	What a prophetic statement for Sojourner Truth to make in 1850! She
	was not yet a famous lecturer but was merely attempting to tell her
	story to support herself and assist the abolitionist cause. Yet the
	majesty, vitality, and endurance she summoned in standing up for her
	rights as a free woman were later reflected in her work as a social
	reformer, counselor of freepeople, and sponsor of a black movement to
	the west. Through her will, her faith, and her love, she indeed
	possessed "the power of a nation."

	In 1858, Sojourner Truth faced proslavery hecklers and unabashedly
	proved that she was indeed a woman. Men in the audience expressed
	doubt about her sex and demanded that "Sojourner submit her breast to
	the inspection of some of the ladies present." The women were
	"ashamed and indignant at such a proposition." But "Sojourner
	exposed her naked breasts" and said that she had "suckled many a
	white babe, to the exclusion of her own." The shame, said Sojourner,
	was not hers but theirs. As Harryette Mullen points out, Sojourner's
	defiance was empowering both for her and her embarrassed white
	sisters. She not only denied "social propriety its oppressive power
	to define, limit, or regulate" but also scoffed at "the conventions
	of femininity." Above all, she assumed a heroic, superior posture
	over both the white women and the men.

	# The Narrative

	# Slaveholder's Promises

	After emancipation had been decreed by the State, some years before
	the time fixed for its consummation, Isabella's master told her if
	she would do well, and be faithful, he would give her 'free papers,'
	one year before she was legally free by statute. In the year 1826,
	she had a badly diseased hand, which greatly diminished her
	usefulness; but on the arrival of July 4, 1827, the time specified
	for her receiving her 'free papers,' she claimed the fulfillment of
	her master's promise; but he refused granting it, on account (as he
	alleged) of the loss he had sustained by her hand. She plead that she
	had worked all the time, and done many things she was not wholly able
	to do, although she knew she had been less useful than formerly; but
	her master remained inflexible. Her very faithfulness probably
	operated against her now, and he found it less easy than he thought
	to give up the profits of his faithful Bell, who had so long done him
	efficient service.

	But Isabella inwardly determined that she would remain quietly with
	him only until she had spun his wool–about one hundred pounds–and
	then she would leave him, taking the rest of the time to herself.
	'Ah!' she says, with emphasis that cannot be written, 'the
	slaveholders are TERRIBLE for promising to give you this or that, or
	such and such a privilege, if you will do thus and so; and when the
	time of fulfillment comes, and one claims the promise, they,
	forsooth, recollect nothing of the kind: and you are, like as not,
	taunted with being a LIAR; or, at best, the slave is accused of not
	having performed his part or condition of the contract.'

	'Oh!' said she, 'I have felt as if I could not live through the
	operation sometimes. Just think of us! so eager for our pleasures,
	and just foolish enough to keep feeding and feeding ourselves up with
	the idea that we should get what had been thus fairly promised; and
	when we think it is almost in our hands, find ourselves flatly
	denied! Just think! how could we bear it? Why, there was Charles
	Brodhead promised his slave Ned, that when harvesting was over, he
	might go and see his wife, who lived some twenty or thirty miles off.
	So Ned worked early and late, and as soon as the harvest was all in,
	he claimed the promised boon. His master said, he had merely told
	him he 'would see if he could go, when the harvest was over; but now
	he saw that he could not go.' But Ned, who still claimed a positive
	promise, on which he had fully depended, went on cleaning his shoes.
	His master asked him if he intended going, and on his replying 'yes,'
	took up a sled-stick that lay near him, and gave him such a blow on
	the head as broke his skull, killing him dead on the spot. [Yet no
	official notice was taken of his more than brutal murder.]

	# Her Escape

	When her master saw her, he said, 'Well, Bell, so you've run away
	from me.' 'No, I did not run away; I walked away by day-light, and
	all because you had promised me a year of my time.' His reply was,
	'You must go back with me.' Her decisive answer was, 'No, I won't go
	back with you.' He said, 'Well, I shall take the child.' This also
	was as stoutly negatived.

	Mr. Isaac S. Van Wagener then interposed, saying, he had never been
	in the practice of buying and selling slaves; he did not believe in
	slavery; but, rather than have Isabella taken back by force, he would
	buy her services for the balance of the year–for which her master
	charged twenty dollars, and five in addition for the child. The sum
	was paid, and her master Dumont departed; but not till he had heard
	Mr. Van Wagener tell her not to call him master–adding, 'there is
	but one master; and he who is your master is my master.'

	# It Is Often Darkest Just Before Dawn

	Soon after [the illegal sale of her son], which had harrowed up her
	very soul to agony, she met a man, who evidently sympathized with
	her, and counseled her to go to the Quakers, telling her they were
	already feeling very indignant at the fraudulent sale of her son, and
	assuring her that they would readily assist her, and direct her what
	to do. He pointed out to her two houses, where lived some of those
	people, who formerly, more than any other sect, perhaps, lived out
	the principles of the gospel of Christ.

	# Isabella's Religious Experience

	We will now turn from the outward and temporal to the inward and
	spiritual life of our subject. It is ever both interesting and
	instructive to trace the exercises of a human mind, through the
	trials and mysteries of life; and especially a naturally powerful
	mind, left as hers was almost entirely to its own workings, and the
	chance influences it met on its way; and especially to note its
	reception of that divine 'light, that lighteth every man that cometh
	into the world.'

	The place she selected, in which to offer up her daily orisons, was a
	small island in a small stream, covered with large willow shrubbery,
	beneath which the sheep had made their pleasant winding paths; and
	sheltering themselves from the scorching rays of a noon-tide sun,
	luxuriated in the cool shadows of the graceful willows, as they
	listened to the tiny falls of the silver waters. It was a lonely
	spot, and chosen by her for its beauty, its retirement, and because
	she thought that there, in the noise of those waters, she could speak
	louder to God, without being overheard by any who might pass that way.

	But, ere she reached the vehicle, she says that God revealed himself
	to her, with all the suddenness of a flash of lightning, showing her,
	'in the twinkling of an eye, that he was all over'–that he pervaded
	the universe–'and that there was no place where God was not.' She
	became instantly conscious of her great sin in forgetting her
	almighty Friend and 'ever-present help in time of trouble.' All her
	unfulfilled promises arose before her, like a vexed sea whose waves
	run mountains high; and her soul, which seemed but one mass of lies,
	shrunk back aghast from the 'awful look' of him whom she had formerly
	talked to, as if he had been a being like herself; and she would now
	fain have hid herself in the bowels of the earth, to have escaped his
	dread presence. But she plainly saw there was no place, not even in
	hell, where he was not; and where could she flee? Another such 'a
	look,' as she expressed it, and she felt that she must be
	extinguished forever, even as one, with the breath of his mouth,
	'blows out a lamp,' so that no spark remains.

	A dire dread of annihilation now seized her, and she waited to see
	if, by 'another look,' she was to be stricken from
	existence,–swallowed up, even as the fire licketh up the oil with
	which it comes in contact.

	When at last the second look came not, and her attention was once
	more called to outward things, she observed her master had left, and
	exclaiming aloud, 'Oh, God, I did not know you were so big,' walked
	into the house, and made an effort to resume her work. But the
	workings of the inward man were too absorbing to admit of much
	attention to her avocations. She desired to talk to God, but her
	vileness utterly forbade it, and she was not able to prefer a
	petition. 'What!' said she, 'shall I lie again to God? I have told
	him nothing but lies; and shall I speak again, and tell another lie
	to God?' She could not; and now she began to wish for some one to
	speak to God for her. Then a space seemed opening between her and
	God, and she felt that if some one, who was worthy in the sight of
	heaven, would but plead for her in their own name, and not let God
	know it came from her, who was so unworthy, God might grant it. At
	length a friend appeared to stand between herself and an insulted
	Deity; and she felt as sensibly refreshed as when, on a hot day, an
	umbrella had been interposed between her scorching head and a burning
	sun.

	'Who are you?' she exclaimed, as the vision brightened into a form
	distinct, beaming with the beauty of holiness, and radiant with love.
	She then said, audibly addressing the mysterious visitant–'I know
	you, and I don't know you.' Meaning, 'You seem perfectly familiar; I
	feel that you not only love me, but that you always have loved
	me–yet I know you not–I cannot call you by name.' When she said,
	'I know you,' the subject of the vision remained distinct and quiet.
	When she said, 'I don't know you,' it moved restlessly about, like
	agitated waters. So while she repeated, without intermission, 'I know
	you, I know you,' that the vision might remain–'Who are you?' was
	the cry of her heart, and her whole soul was in one deep prayer that
	this heavenly personage might be revealed to her, and remain with
	her. At length, after bending both soul and body with the intensity
	of this desire, till breath and strength seemed failing, and she
	could maintain her position no longer, an answer came to her, saying
	distinctly, 'It is Jesus.' 'Yes,' she responded, 'it is Jesus.'

	Previous to these exercises of mind, she heard Jesus mentioned in
	reading or speaking, but had received from what she heard no
	impression that he was any other than an eminent man, like a
	Washington or a Lafayette. Now he appeared to her delighted mental
	vision as so mild, so good, and so every way lovely, and he loved her
	so much! And, how strange that he had always loved her, and she had
	never known it! And how great a blessing he conferred, in that he
	should stand between her and God! And God was no longer a terror and
	a dread to her.

	But when she was simply told, that the Christian world was much
	divided on the subject of Christ's nature–some believing him to be
	coequal with the Father–to be God in and of himself, 'very God, of
	very God;'–some, that he is the 'well-beloved,' 'only begotten Son
	of God;'–and others, that he is, or was, rather, but a mere
	man–she said, 'Of that I only know as I saw. I did not see him to
	be God; else, how could he stand between me and God? I saw him as a
	friend, standing between me and God, through whom, love flowed as
	from a fountain.' Now, so far from expressing her views of Christ's
	character and office in accordance with any system of theology
	extant, she says she believes Jesus is the same spirit that was in
	our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the beginning, when they came
	from the hand of their Creator. When they sinned through
	disobedience, this pure spirit forsook them, and fled to heaven; that
	there it remained, until it returned again in the person of Jesus;
	and that, previous to a personal union with him, man is but a brute,
	possessing only the spirit of an animal.

	# Gleanings

	Many slaveholders boast of the love of their slaves. How it would
	freeze the blood of some of them to know what kind of love rankles in
	the bosoms of slaves for them!

	# The Cause Of Her Leaving The City

	After turning it in her mind for some time, she came to the
	conclusion, that she had been taking part in a great drama, which
	was, in itself, but one great system of robbery and wrong. "Yes,"
	she said, "the rich rob the poor, and the poor rob one another." ...
	These reflections and convictions gave rise to a sudden revulsion of
	feeling in the heart of Isabelle, and she began to look upon money
	and property with great indifference, if not contempt--being at the
	same time unable, probably, to discern any difference between a
	miserly grasping at and hoarding of money and means, and a true use
	of the good things of this life for one's own comfort, and the relief
	of such as she might be enabled to befriend and assist.

	Wherever night overtook her, there she sought for lodgings--free, if
	she might--if not, she paid; at a tavern, if she chanced to be at
	one--if not, at a private dwelling; with the rich, if they would
	receive her--if not, with the poor.

	But she soon discovered that the largest houses were nearly always
	full; if not quite full, company was soon expected; and that it was
	much easier to find an unoccupied corner in a small house than in a
	large one; and if a person possessed but a miserable roof over his
	head, you might be sure of a welcome to part of it.

	She said, "she never could find out that the rich had any religion.
	If I had been rich and accomplished, I could; for the rich could
	always find religion in the rich, but I could find it among the poor."

	# Some Of Her Views And Reasoning

	But the moment she placed this idea of God by the side of the
	impression she had once so suddenly received of his inconceivable
	greatness and entire spirituality, that moment she exclaimed
	mentally, 'No, God does not stop to rest, for he is a spirit, and
	cannot tire; he cannot want for light, for he hath all light in
	himself. And if "God is all in all," and "worketh all in all," as I
	have heard them read, then it is impossible he should rest at all;
	for if he did, every other thing would stop and rest too; the waters
	would not flow, and the fishes could not swim; and all motion must
	cease. God could have no pauses in his work, and he needed no
	Sabbaths of rest. Man might need them, and he should take them when
	he needed them, whenever he required rest. As it regarded the
	worship of God, he was to be worshiped at all times and in all
	places; and one portion of time never seemed to her more holy than
	another.'

	I had forgotten to mention, in its proper place, a very important
	fact, that when she was examining the Scriptures, she wished to hear
	them without comment; but if she employed adult persons to read them
	to her, and she asked them to read a passage over again, they
	invariably commenced to explain, by giving her their version of it;
	and in this way, they tried her feelings exceedingly. In consequence
	of this, she ceased to ask adult persons to read the Bible to her,
	and substituted children in their stead. Children, as soon as they
	could read distinctly, would re-read the same sentence to her, as
	often as she wished, and without comment; and in that way she was
	enabled to see what her own mind could make out of the record, and
	that, she said, was what she wanted, and not what others thought it
	to mean. She wished to compare the teachings of the Bible with the
	witness within her; and she came to the conclusion, that the spirit
	of truth spoke in those records, but that the recorders of those
	truths had intermingled with them ideas and suppositions of their
	own. This is one among the many proofs of her energy and
	independence of character.

	# The Second Advent Doctrines

	Sometimes, to their eager inquiry, 'Oh, don't you believe the Lord is
	coming?' she answered, 'I believe the Lord is as near as he can be,
	and not be it.'

	'As we were walking the other day, she said she had often thought
	what a beautiful world this would be, when we should see every thing
	right side up. Now, we see every thing topsy-turvy, and all is
	confusion.'

	# Her Last Interview With Her Master

	In the spring of 1849, Sojourner made a visit to her eldest daughter,
	Diana, who has ever suffered from ill health, and remained with Mr.
	Dumont, Isabella's humane master. She found him still living, though
	advanced in age, and reduced in property, (as he had been for a
	number of years,) but greatly enlightened on the subject of slavery.
	He said he could then see that 'slavery was the wickedest thing in
	the world, the greatest curse the earth had ever felt–that it was
	then very clear to his mind that it was so, though, while he was a
	slaveholder himself, he did not see it so, and thought it was as
	right as holding any other property.' Sojourner remarked to him, that
	it might be the same with those who are now slaveholders. 'O, no,'
	replied he, with warmth, 'it cannot be. For, now, the sin of slavery
	is so clearly written out, and so much talked against,–(why, the
	whole world cries out against it!)–that if any one says he don't
	know, and has not heard, he must, I think, be a liar. In my
	slaveholding days, there were few that spoke against it, and these
	few made little impression on any one. Had it been as it is now,
	think you I could have held slaves? No! I should not have dared to do
	it, but should have emancipated every one of them. Now, it is very
	different; all may hear if they will.'

	She recalled the lectures he used to give his slaves, on speaking the
	truth and being honest, and laughing, she says he taught us not to
	lie and steal, when he was stealing all the time himself, and did not
	know it! Oh! how sweet to my mind was this confession! And what a
	confession for a master to make to a slave! A slaveholding master
	turned to a brother! Poor old man, may the Lord bless him, and all
	slave-holders partake of his spirit!

	[I find this confession thought-provoking. It implies that the
	slaveholding individuals did not change, only their circumstances
	changed. This implies the possibility that as individuals, we
	ourselves are not so different from the people who were slaveholders.]

	author: Truth, Sojourner, 1797-1883
	detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Sojourner_Truth
	LOC: E185.97.T8
	source: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html
	tags: biography,ebook,history,non-fiction,slave narrative
	title: Narrative of Sojourner Truth

	# Tags

	biography
	ebook
	history
	non-fiction
	slave narrative