HISTORY
What Sojourner Truth Taught the World About Preserving Black Joy
"If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight, it makes it all go easier."
Civil rights leaders are more than the stoic statues of reverence that historical narratives often portray them as. Despite their determination to challenge racism in American society, we must remember they were living, breathing humans capable of a full range of emotions. It should not surprise Americans to learn that some were joyful people. And yet, in a country where black history is scarcely taught, students are likely to see a series of bullet points that reduce an individual to their successes rather than learn about their depth of character. One example is the famed abolitionist and women's rights advocate Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree in 1797* to enslaved parents in Ulster, New York.
Despite earning a reputation as an outspoken advocate, she dispelled the notion that her activism conflicted with her pursuit of happiness. While Isabella never learned to read or write, friends and colleagues helped to record her words for posterity. Suffragist Susan B. Anthony shared Sojourner Truth's words in History of Woman Suffrage (1881): "Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight…
