Read Part One HERE
In this post I focus on a woman named Sojouner Truth. She lived from 1797 - 1883. She was one of ten or twelve children born to James and Elizabeth Baumfree. Colonel Hardenbergh bought James and Elizabeth Baumfree from slave traders and kept their family at his estate in a big hilly area called by the Dutch name Swartekill, in the town of Esopus, New York. Sojourner's first language was Dutch and she spoke with a Dutch accent for the rest of her life. Charles Hardenbergh inherited his father's estate and continued to enslave people as a part of that estate's property.
When Charles Hardenbergh died in 1806, nine-year old Sojourner (known as Belle), was sold at an auction with a flock of sheep for $100 to John Neely, near Kingston, New York. Until that time Sojourner spoke only Dutch, and after learning English, she spoke with a Dutch accent. She later described Neely as cruel and harsh, relating how he beat her daily and once even with a bundle of rods. In 1808 Neely sold her for £105 to tavern keeper Martinus Schryver of Port Ewen, Now York, who owned her for 18 months. Schryver then sold Sojourner to John Dumont of West Park New York. John Dumont raped her repeatedly, and considerable tension existed between Sojourner and Dumon't wife Elizabeth Waring Dumont, who harrassed her and made life more difficult.
Read Part Fifty-Six HERE
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