How Did Sojourner Truth Play In The Anti-Slavery Movement?

Sojourner Truth Sojourner Truth was born under the name of Isabella Baumfree in 1797. She was one of twelve children born to Elizabeth and James Baumfree in Swartkill in Ulster County New York. Her Father was caught in Ghana and brought to America to become a slave. Her mother was the daughter of slaves from Guinea. Truth’s entire family was owned by Colonel Hardenberg and lived in his estate in Esopus New York.

Many reform movements between 1825 and 1850 sought to expand democratic ideals by advocating many social and political changes including movements to prohibit alcoholic beverages, to increase public education, and to support rights for women. Movements within society were encouraged through the church as well as harmony.

In the history of America, few, if any, injustices were more cruel and severe than slavery. Millions of people were forced to work and die against their will and without pay. These slaves were viewed as property, not people. This atrocity inspired some of its victims to write or speak out against the injustice. Two such people were Sojourner Truth and Lucille Clifton.

A prominent social change that took place during the Antebellum Era was the growth of the abolitionist movement. The movement had existed prior to 1815, but its strength was renewed starting in the 1820s. The growth of the movement was primarily caused by the Second Great Awakening. Charles Grandison Finney, one of the most influential figures of the Second Great Awakening, spread a doctrine of Perfectionism, which caused a public motivation for reform in pursuit of the elimination of sin, abolition being a major point in the new definition of equality. These abolitionist ideals were spread across the country and gained influence through the newly formed "benevolent empire" created as a result of the Second Great Awakening.

The second great awakening had a huge impact on the growing opposition to slavery in 1776 to 1852. The second great awakening was a religious revivalism that protected church morals and promoted abolition. During the second great awakening many white americans

Through her political presence, she was thus a key figure in the suffrage movement, imposing rights for women, during the second-wave feminist movement. Where Roosevelt gave speeches, public appearances and wrote articles challenging societal norms by openly promoting women’s rights and economic independence, encouraging women to

“Independence, free will, and personal effort are considered primary virtues that contribute not only to personal achievement but also to the success and well-being of the nation.” This quote, stated by Charles Finney, means that people must be able to choose for themselves and make their own decisions in order for the country to become better than it is. The Second Great Awakening began for several different reasons, consisted of many different church revivals and leaders, and ultimately had a lasting impact for several more years after the end of the Second Great Awakening. There were several different factors that led up to the Second Great Awakening. Some such factors are listed by Richard Kaplan in his article titled, The Second Great

The purpose of the speech was to pressure Congress into passing a legislation that would give women the right to vote in the United States of America. She delivered the address in November 1917, in Washington, DC with the

Sojourner Truth was a very powerful and independent woman of her time. She got others to join her in the movement for women 's rights. Also, she wanted to prove to the world that women were equal and deserved the same rights as men. “...but men doing no more, got twice as much pay…” (Truth). She was tired of men believing

she was able to regain control of one aspect of women’s personal lives. The birth rate in America steadily declined after this movement, because now women have the freedom of choosing when they want to have children. These social movements continued through the 20th century, and both ideas of being careful with alcohol and domestic abuse, and also the acceptance of birth control are still aspects of women's lives

The Roaring Twenties was a prime era for women. Because of the toils of many strong women, ideals were flipped on their head, to America’s benefit. In the late 1800’s, two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, quickly realized that women would not be able to share their political views unless given the right to vote. Because of the fact that women had basically no other societal roles besides housework, they were not respected during this time period.

The Second Great Awakening’s Impact on Abolitionism in the North The Second Great Awakening during the late 18th and 19th centuries sparked many reform movements in the United States. The new enlightenment age fostered scientific thought that often challenged traditional Christian practices. Principles of “Deism” and “Unitarianism” were religious philosophies that focused on free will, reason, and science.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, American society began to focus on the welfare of minority groups. Women’s suffrage and abolition were rooted as deeply as the history of America, but asylum and prison reform sprouted with the Second Great Awakening, a movement that occurred in the early 1800s. The Second Great Awakening was led by religious leaders who advocated for changes in American society through the unity of the American people (Doc. Due to the Second Great Awakening, reform movements were established between 1825 and 1850 in order to represent the changes the people sought for in the issues of slavery, suffrage, and asylum and prison reform. The social aspect of the abolition movement led to the visible democratic changes in society and politics.

Susan B. Anthony was born into a Quaker family, with the hope that everyone would one day be treated equal. She denied a chance to speak at a temperance convention because she was a woman(Susan B. Anthony). From this point on, she knew that she needed to make a change. Susan B. Anthony, because of her intense work involving women 's’ rights, highly influenced all of the societies and beliefs that were yet to come. She employed a huge role in our history because of the fact that she advocated for women’s rights, for the integration of women in the workforce, and for the abolition of slavery.

In the wake of the second Great Awakening in the early 1800’s, societal morals regarding slavery, lack of rights for women, the prison system, education, and other institutions were questioned. Unitarianism stressed salvation through good works, and both religious converts and transcendentalists initiated social reform movements in an attempt to improve the moral state of America. Two of these movements that included perhaps the most controversy and struggle included abolitionism and women’s rights. Although both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements were able to eventually create lasting societal and political change, the fact that only a small portion of the population had any democratic rights showed the initial weaknesses of American democracy.