History:

I had to choose a female historical person I read about in my history book to write an essay on. I chose Sojouner Truth.

References: Wikipedia

Sojourner Truth was born at Swartekill, New York, in 1797 and died at Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1883 when she was 86. When she was born, she was given the name Isabella Bell Baumfree. Her parents are James and Elizabeth Baumfree and she was one of the ten or twelve children her parents had. Truth was born into slavery, but in 1826 she escaped with her daughter. Once she was free she went to court to get back her son. She won the case and was the first African American to do so against a white man. She is well known for the great speeches she made to educate people about slavery and women’s rights. She also wrote a speech about it and shared it with other women’s rights activists. Aside from that, she was also an African American abolitionist.

Before she was born, a man named Colonel Hardenbergh bought James and Elizabeth and brought them to Swartekill where they had their many children. When Colonel Hardenbergh died in 1806, Truth was sold with a flock of sheep. She was transferred between several different masters until in 1810 she was bought by John Dumont. Later in her life, she had five children, James, Diana, Peter, Elizabeth, and Sophia. When she escaped, she could only take Sophia, because the others were still legal slaves at the time. Later she said “I did not run off, I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right.” On June 1st, 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and said, “The spirit calls me, and I must go.” She later became a Methodist, left her friends, and preached and traveled about the abolishment of slavery. In 1844, she joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, an organization created by abolitionists to fight for women’s rights, religious tolerance and pacifism. In 1846, the group was disbanded and in 1849 she visited her master before she moved west. In 1851, she joined George Thompson to lecture people about different rights. In May of that year she was in the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention and told the famous speech called “Ain’t I a Woman?” In the Civil war, she recruited black troops for the union army. Her grandson, James Caldwell, went in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. In 1864, the National Freedman’s Relief Association in Washington, D.C promoted Truth. In October of that year, she met Abe Lincoln. In 1870, Truth tried to get land grants from the government to freed slaves, but did it for seven years without success.

When she died, over 3,000 people came to her home to pay their respects to her for all of the great thing she has done for women, for blacks, and for a big push towards a new age, where everyone will be equal. We can still thank Sojourner Truth for truly speaking the truth.

To Kill A Mockingbird:

Ch 21

While the jury were deciding if Tom was guilty or not, Jem, Scout and Dill were forced to go get supper and then to come back. They ate their supper, and then returned to the court. It took many hours until the jury made their decision. But when they did, they said the crushing word, guilty.

 

Ch 22

Jem cried from the word; he knew that it was very unfair for Tom to lose. In the morning, Calpurnia found many foods that blacks had given them as a thank you for trying to help Tom win the case. Later in the day, they went to Miss Maudie’s and she gave them cake as they talked to each other about what happened.

 

Ch 23

A while later, Mr. Ewell threatened to kill Atticus and spat at him right in his face. Because of the threat on his life, Jem and Scout became very worried for his safety. They went so far as to tempt him to get a gun, but they were unsuccessful. Jem and Scout talked about how everyone is the same yet different, and yet everyone despises each other for their differences that they have when they really are exactly alike. Jem also talked to Atticus about how unfair juries can be and how he felt that juries should be removed everywhere.