Sojourner Truth: American Abolitionist

A 2007 Summer Reading List - mini review. I had placed a book about Sojourner Truth (not this one) on my daughter's summer reading list. Sunday I passed by our Church's book cart/library and was perusing the biography section when I came across this book. Now, I knew nothing about Ms. Truth when I placed it on the reading list and thought it would not be a bad idea to acquaint myself with her life. I am so very glad I did. Sojourner Truth's life gave her every right to be bitter. However, the love of Christ motivated her to have compassion, rather than bitterness, and still be a firey opponent to slavery. My favorite part of the book is the stories of her assertion of her rights to ride the street cars in Washinton D.C.

Sojourner Truth has always been one of my personal heroes. She was willing to stand up for what was right in a time when being a woman and being black and being an illiterate former slave were three strikes that took most people out of the public arena. Sojourner did more than stand up for herself - she thrived confronting slavery, advocating women's rights and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. This book does a pretty good job of telling her story, but it is not a particularly lively rendition. The facts of her life add punch on their own, but that is despite the writing. I give this one a B, mostly because of the strength of her story, not the strength of its telling.