Sojourner Truth's America has to be one of the most phenomenal books ever written about this amazing woman.
The author, Margaret Washington, has not only opened up the world of Sojourner, but also that of a culture within a culture.
I was most intrigued by Washington's inclusion of the culture of the Dutch, with whom Sojourner spent most of her slavery years.
Washington revealed this amazing culture in such great detail that it is almost a book within a book, and could stand alone.
When you read the chapter on how Sojourner regained custody of her young son after he was sold away from her, you will get a sense of the greatness she was stepping up to.
Sojourner did not give up or in, despite the fact that she could not read or write and spoke broken English due to the dutch influence on her dialect.
But what Sojourner did have was a strong belief in God which she inherited from her mother even though she was sold away from her mother as a teenager.
The pain and suffering that Sojourner and so many slaves like her endured pales in comparison to anything we here in America and much of the free world could ever imagine.
Reading biographies such as this one helps keep me focused on what I can do instead of what I can not do.
Following is a short passage from the book: On June 1, 1843, the Sojourner boarded the Brooklyn Ferry in Lower Manhattan and headed for Long Island.
A thrifty woman with a savings account, she carried only a few coins to "pay Caesar.
" Once "vain in her clothes," she carried only a few belongings in a knapsack.
After disembarking on Long Island and walking along the sandy road, she met a Quaker woman.
"I can see her now," Sojourner Truth told a Chicago newspaper reporter, as she recalled that conversation from long ago.
The Sojourner asked the woman for a drink of water.
"What is thy name?" said she.
Said I, "Sojourner.
" "Where does thee get such a name as that?" Said I, "the Lord has given it to me.
" "Thee gave it to thyself, didn't thee?" said she, "and not the Lord.
Has that been thy name long?" Said I, "No.
" "What was thy name?" "Belle.
" "Belle what?" "Whatever my master's name was.
" "Well, thee says thy name is Sojourner?" "Yes.
" "Sojourner what?" Sojourner confessed that she hadn't thought of that, whereupon the Quaker woman "picked that name to pieces" so much that it looked different, and "didn't seem to be such a name after all.
" Crestfallen, and hastily excusing herself, Sojourner "plodded on over the sandy road and was very hot and miserable.
" In her frustration she cried, "Oh God, give me a name with a handle to it.
" After all, since God's voice had led her out of the city into an unknown region, she now needed God to give her a last name.
At that moment of despair, it came to her "as true as God is true, Sojourner Truth.
" She "leapt for joy" and thanked God for the name.
"Thou art my master, and Thy name is Truth, and Truth shall be my name till I die.
"Finally, after five master and five children, and over forty years on the earth, Sojourner truth recalled, "I was liberated.
" This is one of my favorite passages from the book, which is also read by the author herself in a video which I have linked to below.
The author, Margaret Washington, is a professor of history at Cornell University.
She is also the author of the award-winning book "A Peculiar People";Slave Religion and community-Culture Among the Gullahs and the editor of The Narrative of Sojourner Truth.
This is a phenomenal biography and I recommend it for every American and the world.