This week in Christian history: First woman ordained in Lutheran Church, Constantinople patriarch banished

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, November 21, 2021

Sojourner Truth dies – Nov. 26, 1883

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

This week marks the anniversary of when notable abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who claimed to have received a vision from God telling her to end slavery, died in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Born Isabella Baumfree to slave parents in New York, she took the name Sojourner Truth in 1843, becoming a popular orator and advocate for abolition, temperance, and women’s rights.

“Does not God love colored children as well as white children? And did not the same Savior die to save the one as well as the other?” remarked Truth.

“If so, white children must know that if they go to Heaven, they must go there without their prejudice against color, for in Heaven black and white are one in the love of Jesus.”