Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman?

by Patricia C. McKissack, Fredrick McKissack

Overview

Published to coincide with African-American History Month, here is the stirring, award-winning biography of Sojourner Truth—preacher, abolitionist, and activist for the rights of African-Americans and women. A rich profile.—School Library Journal. A 1993 Coretta Scott King Honor Book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780590446914
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/1994
Series:	Scholastic Biography Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	602,013
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 7.63(h) x (d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

About the Author

Patricia and Frederick McKissack are the authors of numerous award-winning books, including REBELS AGAINST SLAVERY: AMERICAN SLAVES REVOLT and BLACK HANDS, WHITE SAILS: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WHALERS, both Coretta Scott King Honor Books, and SOJOURNER TRUTH: AIN'T I A WOMAN?, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. Patricia and Frederick McKissack live in St. Louis, Missouri. John McKissack resides in Memphis, Tennessee.
Patricia C.and Fredrick L. McKissack are the authors of numerous and acclaimed books, including REBELS AGAINST SLAVERY: AMERICAN SLAVE REVOLTS and BLACK HAND, WHITE SAILS: THE STORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WHALERS, both CSK Honor Books. They have also collaborated on SOJOURNER TRUTH: AIN'T I A WOMAN?, a CSK Honor Book, winner of an NAACP Image Award, and a Boston Globe/Horn Book Award. For the first time this husband-wife team invites their grown son, John McKissack, a mechanical engineer, to join them as a technical advisor in the creation of this new series. The elder McKissacks live in St. Louis, MO. John lives in Memphis, TN with his wife, Michelle, and three sons, John, Everett and Peter.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
Part I7
1	Hardenbergh's Belle	9
2	Dumont's Belle	25
3	Free Belle!	37
4	The Kingdom	49
5	Gone Forever	65
Part II79
6	A New Direction	81
7	Ain't I a Woman?	99
8	Keep 'Em Scratchin'	116
9	The Book of Life	129
10	The Last Cause	153
	More About the People Sojourner Truth Knew	165
	Bibliography	179
	Index	181

Editorial Reviews

This work by the authors of A Long Hard Journey--The Story of the Pullman Porter is a great deal more than a biography of a remarkable woman. The forceful narrative also offers a startling portrayal of a pivotal yet appalling era in American history. Born a slave in Ulster County, N.Y., in 1797, ``Hardenbergh's Belle'' (so named after her first owner) had been bought and sold by several masters by the time she was a teenager. In 1826, betrayed by an owner who reneged on his promise to free her if she ``worked extra hard,'' Belle made the first of many intrepid moves, and escaped with her youngest child. After living for some time in New York City, in 1843 the deeply religious woman followed what she interpreted as a directive from God and, assuming the name of Sojourner Truth, went off ``to do the Lord's work.'' For the rest of her long life, the indefatigable abolitionist and feminist journeyed from one state to another, delivering her impressively articulate message at anti-slavery and women's rights conventions--often to hostile, jeering audiences. The authors' meticulously researched account describes Truth's relationships with such noted figures as William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Abraham Lincoln, underscoring the book's value as a chronicle of not just one, but many courageous individuals' battles against injustice. Ages 8-12. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-8-- With compassion and historical detail, the McKissacks offer a rich profile of Isabella Van Wagener. Her experiences as both slave and freed slave in New York shaped her midlife commitment to abolition and women's rights. At age 46, she received a call to ``walk in the light of His truth.'' Henceforward, her name was Sojourner Truth and, although she never learned to read or write, the six-foot tall woman became a striking, eloquent spokesperson whose wit, common sense, and candor popularized her with audiences throughout New England and the Midwest. This biography draws personal information from many of the same sources cited in other recent biographies by Lindstrom (Messner, 1980; o.p.), Taylor-Boyd (Gareth Stevens, 1990), and Macht (Chelsea, 1992). But the McKissacks emphasize the condition of African-Americans from 1797-1883, their subject's convictions and magnetism, her contributions to the welfare of her people, and her involvement with other influential abolitionists and activists during the last 40 years of her life. Brief profiles of these acquaintances, from Susan B. Anthony to Harriet Tubman, are appended. Middle grade readers and researchers will enjoy the readability, quotes, and documentary photos, all of which breathe life into the personality and times of Sojourner Truth. --Gerry Larson, Chewning Junior High School, Durham, NC

School Library Journal