Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol (Paperback)

by Nell Irvin Painter (Author) "SOJOURNER TRUTH, born Isabella, is one of the two most famous African-American women of the nineteenth century..." (more)
Key Phrases: antislavery feminism, black male suffrage, antislavery press, Libyan Sibyl, Battle Creek, Ulster County (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Though she was born into slavery and subjected to physical and sexual abuse by her owners, Sojourner Truth, who eventually fled the South for the promise of the North, came to represent the power of individual strength and perseverance. She championed the disadvantaged--black in the South, women in the North--yet spent much of her free life with middle-class whites, who supported her, yet never failed to remind her that she was a second class citizen. Slowly, but surely, Sojourner climbed from beneath the weight of slavery, secured respect for herself, and utilized the distinction of her race to become not only a symbol for black women, but for the feminist movement as a whole. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Because other biographies of Sojourner Truth, unusual even among ex-slave women as itinerant preacher and political activist, have been published in recent years, Painter's compelling life loses some of its edge. Yet it has additional strengths as 19th-century social history. Isabella Van Wagenen, a Pentecostalist domestic born into slavery about 1797 but who reinvented herself at 59 as an abolitionist orator, then into a fiery suffragist, is seen here through the prism of the religious, social and political movements that animated her. A striking presence on the platform, the subject of an as-told-to autobiography that went through many editions and helped sustain her financially, she seemed a born survivor, shedding slavery, abuse, poverty and prejudice during her 80-odd years (admirers claimed 110?she died in 1883). Shrewd, and with a commonsense wit, possessed of such a thundering voice that skeptics wondered if she were a man, she was never, Painter asserts, a quaintly exotic innocent. Relying on biblical allusions that her "Bible-literate" audiences could amplify, she was spellbinding. Still, Painter reminds us, "Everything we know of Sojourner Truth comes through other people, mostly educated white women," for, despite decades of involvement with liberal, even radical, intellectuals, she remained illiterate. Cutting through the image-making of her contemporaries as well as later interpreters who envision Sojourner Truth as the symbol of the strong woman, "black or not," Painter persuasively offers us the real woman behind the myth. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (October 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393317080
• ISBN-13: 978-0393317084
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #344,419 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sojourner Truth?, March 24, 2000

By	Carlos E. Davila "C. E. Davila" (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol (Hardcover)

Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol undertakes an interesting challenge as historian Nell Irvin Painter attempts to produce a "historically accurate" biography of a subject that left little evidence of her life. Moreover, Painter takes on another interesting challenge by attempting to analyze the meaning of Sojourner Truth the symbol-a task that requires her to analyze the layers of evidence produced by those who did document Sojourner Truth's life. Is she successful at producing a historically "accurate" biography? Does she successfully "peel back the myth and the legend" in the evidence left by those who documented Truth's life?

I think Painter is somewhat successful at presenting a historically accurate biography. I say somewhat because, on the one hand, she presents compelling evidence assembled from primary sources that document Truth's life-newspaper accounts, monographs, etc. And she obviously has a thorough command of the secondary sources related to Sojourner Truth. What is more, I think that her methodology-what she calls "more or less uncommon research methods"-allows her to reconstruct a version of Truth's life as best as possible. Assembling the pieces of an immense jigsaw puzzle such as this requires great patience and historical skill, both of which Painter exhibits in this work.

On the other hand, her command of the supporting sources, the sources that provide context for her analysis of the primary sources, is a little less complete. For example, as Painter acknowledges, religion-popular religion-is central to understanding American culture. And I think that in this case, one must have a thorough understanding of religion and the Bible to effectively document Truth's life. However, Painter makes at least one glaring mistake in her narrative when she conflates the stories of Lazarus the beggar, and Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha (p. 127). Painter makes this fundamental error in her analysis of Truth's speech in an apparent attempt to interject an element of "class consciousness" into Truth's abolitionist-feminist discourse. Jesus did not resurrect Lazarus the beggar. Jesus resurrected Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha, a well-respected and influential patron (the Lazarus to whom Truth refers). Does a gaff such as this mortally wound the entire analysis? Probably not. But, in a book that so heavily relies on "imaginative methods" and "unknowns," it is probably a good idea to have command of the "knowns"-in this case the New Testament.

This analytical error also points to problems in answering the question concerning whether Painter succeeds in "peeling back the myth and legend." Persons who produced the majority of the evidence that Painter uses had a vested interest in Truth the symbol, which eventually led to the perpetuation of myth and legend. Truth is often used to advance causes such as abolitionism and feminism. And while Painter dismisses those who have used Truth the symbol and perpetuated myth and legend, she is left with little without this evidence. In the end Painter concedes that one can not separate the symbol and the person without destroying the "cultural significance" of Sojourner Truth. Cultural significance trumps historical accuracy in the final chapter. And paradoxically, it appears Painter falls into the same trap as her predecessors as she "peels back" the myth and legend. Her analysis on pages 126 and 127 (and in other places throughout the book) strongly suggests that she is adding her own layers and doing to Sojourner Truth, what others-the ones she dismisses-have done.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unearthing the woman within the mythology., July 5, 1998

By	"peeatee" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol (Hardcover)

Ms. Painter does a complete job of culling an abundance of information and ascertaining the real Sojourner Truth from the mythologized one who has been passed down to most of us by way of cursory teaching and mentioning of in classrooms. This scholarly book is rife with interesting and, at times, disturbing facts about not only the woman named Sojourner, but also about the country named America with its racist and sexist policies and practices.

The book is written in a clear and cohesive style, notwithstanding its rigorous documentation. Anyone who is interested in African American history, women's history, and U.S. history will want to have a copy of Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol in his or her library.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible biography, November 10, 2003

By A Customer

Painter's biography is excellent. She puts Truth in perspective with the challenges of her time. She sheds light on complicated relationships with noteable Abolishionists and with her own children. This book clearly presents the difficult life of one incredible woman who struggles to do her part to free all slaves, gain respect as a woman and be accepted as a human being.