“Sojourner Truth” Travels Our Way - September 18, 2014

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“Sojourner Truth” Travels Our Way
September 18, 2014

Van Harlingen Historical Society presents Dr. Daisy Century, in first-person interpretation, as the former slave Isabella Baumfree, better known as Sojourner Truth. The program, free and open to the public, will be held Thursday, September 18, 2014 at Mary Jacobs Library, 64 Washington Street, Rocky Hill, New Jersey at 7:00 pm. Registration is required. Visit http://somerset.lib.nj.us/maryjacobs.htm or call 609-924-7073. School-age children are welcome. Space is limited.

Dr. Daisy Century as Sojourner Truth. Photo credit: American Historical Theatre
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797, a slave from a small town north of New York City, who was sold several times over by one brutal owner to another. Her life included repeated beatings, rapes, a forced marriage and unspeakable hardships. Baumfree is said to have spoken Dutch until age 9 when she was first sold with a flock of sheep. Having escaped to freedom in 1826 and changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843, Truth walked through Long Island and Connecticut, preaching “God’s truth and plan for salvation.”

She was a woman undeterred by incredible obstacles, a woman who mixed with the leading figures of her day, including Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. In 1851 Truth delivered her famous women’s rights speech "Ain’t I a Woman" in Akron, Ohio, from which Dr. Daisy Century bases her program.

Almost as impressively tall as the woman she portrays, Dr. Century gives a commanding performance. She is also a gifted teacher and actor with a Ph.D. in Science Education from Temple University and inspires through her thoroughly-researched, dramatically intense portrayals.

This program is funded by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.


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