Sojourner Truth

This is a picture of Sojourner Truth's tomb stone (http://flickr.com/photos/wallyg/1065297055/)

There are many people in the world that have done simple or extraordinary things in life. Most people think that they are considered a hero. My definition of a hero is a person that can have an impact on a people's lives by something they say or do that can change, enhance, or save a person's life. For example a parent can be a hero by encouraging their children to do their best at all times by using kind words. Parents who uses kind words to encourage their children to do their best, and the man jumping onto the tracks of a subway to save another man's life, are examples of heroes. I think that Sojourner Truth is a hero because her actions helped change the ways of slaves and women.

Sojourner Truth was born a slave in about 1797. All Sojourner Truth wanted to be was a free woman. This is important because she went to go and find a way to freedom because her Master broke his word. Without her doing that she would have never became a preacher that showed people that slavery was not the right thing to do. In other words, people never would have heard her speak her mind about how slave women never had any rights.

Sojourner Truth is a hero because she fought to abolish slavery and played an important role in helping woman gain the right to vote. In 1851, she made her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech at the women's convention. In this speech, she talked about racial and gender discrimination. She helped spread the word to end slavery and helped highlight that women were as capable as men. Her efforts helped to paint the political landscape today. For example, slavery was abolished which eventually gave blacks the right to vote and then women gained the right to vote. As a result of black's and women's ability to vote, Barrack Obama, a black man and Hillary Clinton, a white woman, made history this year in the Democratic Presidential Primary. They have benefited from Sojourner Truth's, and other's, commitment to helping and caring for people, especially blacks and women.

Sojourner Truth's legacy was a result of the topic of her speech and the way she presented it. Furthermore when she spoke she had a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and passion. For example when she talked, she didn't talk goofy, she spoke as if she was very open minded. When Sojourner Truth presented her "Ain't I a Woman" speech one of the things she said was "That man over there says a woman needs to be helped into carriages and lifted over ditches...Nobody ever helps me into carriages over puddles or gives me any best place. And ain't I a woman?"

The advice that Sojourner Truth would give to today’s youth is to fight for what you believe in. She also might say to never give up. I think she would say that because that's what she did when she was alive. Other advice that Sojourner Truth would give to today's youth is, "Truth burns up error". That means that if you try to tell a lie then you’re just going to have to keep telling more lies just to cover up one lie, when you can just come forward with the truth. The last piece of advice that she might give is that "It's the mind that makes the body". I think that quote means the mind controls everything you do and if you think positive you'll do positive things for yourself, such as exercise, eating right, or getting enough sleep. On the other hand, if you think negative then you will do negative things to your body. In other words just be yourself if you want to be like Sojourner Truth.