This week in Christian history: Constantinople falls, Sojourner Truth becomes a preacher

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 29, 2022

Sojourner Truth becomes preacher, devotes life to anti-slavery work – June 1, 1843

American abolitionist Sojourner Truth (c. 1797-1883), as seen in an 1870 photo. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Isabella Baumfree became a Methodist and took the name of Sojourner Truth, devoting her time to preaching and abolitionism.

Born a slave but having been emancipated in 1827, Truth decided to dedicate her life to, as she put it, “exhorting the people to embrace Jesus, and refrain from sin.”

“For several years, she preached at camp meetings and lived in a utopian community, the Northampton Association for Education and Industry,” explained the Social Welfare History Project at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Even though the community lasted less than five years, many reform-minded influential people visited Northampton, including abolitionist leaders Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.”