Black Women Abolitionists and the Fight for Freedom in the 19th Century

 Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman are well-known women personalities in America because of their great contribution to the abolitionist movement. A lot other black women played a major role in the movement; however, the effort most black women had done to stop slavery had been ignored for long until scholarship during the late 20th century. Although most black women had opted for poorly paying jobs such as laundress and domestic jobs, some of them came from middle-class families. Despite the difference in their jobs or lifestyle abolitionist movement meant a lot to all of them.

 Sojourner Truth who was once a slave of Dutch-speaking settlers in New York, born in 1791 and died in 1883 was an icon of the abolition movement. Her experiences of injustice and inequality and getting in contact with the feminists and abolitionists inspired to lecture extensively about antislavery and women’s rights.  Her bravery in the fight to end slavery made her become a respected, well-known hero of the abolitionist movement. Sojourner Truth joined the antislavery circuit in 1846 with likes of Abby Kelly Forster, Fredrick Douglas, William Lloyd Garrison, and British member of parliament George Thompson (Bey, 2017). 

Another great icon of the abolitionist movement is Harriet Tubman, a black woman who is known by every American schoolchild. Harriet Tubman was born in 1820 and died in 1913.  She was referred by many as “General Tubman” and the “Moses of her people” (Richmond, 2019, p. 60). Tubman became active in abolitionism just after escaping slaver in 1840.  She made alliances with women’s groups as well abolitionists which became part of Underground Railway. Although she is not the founder of Underground Railway, her name is associated with it that she even brought fugitives to the home of Fredrick Douglas. Harriet Tubman was a brave woman show risked her life to rescue a lot of slaves, including relatives, men and women, directing them through a dangerous and difficult southern terrain to freedom in the North and Canada. 

To conclude, a lot of black women made the abolitionist movement a success. Other heroic black women made a great contribution toward equality during the 19th century as well.  During those times, women were supposed to be quiet, submissive, and apolitical; however, these women dared to speak out and fought bravely to end slavery and inequality despite the rampant racial prejudice in the North and South. These brave women should never be forgotten. 

References

Bey, M. (2017). Black Women, Black Ink: The “Word” of Black Women Abolitionist Feminisms. Bury My Heart in a Free Land: Black Women Intellectuals in Modern US History, 1.

 Richmond, S. J. (2019). RACE, CLASS, AND ANTISLAVERY: African American Women in the Transatlantic Antislavery Movement. Journal of Women's History, 31(3), 57-77.