Thomas Ruller News Today

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York's Hudson Valley to bring her son, Peter, home from Alabama.

Documents of the historic case, in which a Black woman won the release of her son in court, will be on display in Kingston Wednesday.

Recently uncovered court documents from 1828 related to noted abolitionist Sojourner Truth will be on display after almost two centuries. The court papers from her successful court fight to reunite with a son sold to slavery were spotted in January by an eagle-eyed New York state archivist.

Decades before she became famous for crusading to end slavery, Sojourner Truth, or Isabella Van Wagenen, as she was known then, fought to free her son. Newly discovered documents illuminate the court case in which Truth won her son’s freedom.

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped...

It was a historic case of a Black woman seeking the release of her son from slavery prevailing in court against a white man.

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York’s Hudson Valley to bring her son, Peter, home from Alabama.

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York's

In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York’s Hudson Valley

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