Whereas Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree to her slave parents James and Elizabeth Baumfree, in 1897 in Dutch-speaking Swartekill, Ulster County, New York; Whereas Sojourner Truth was born two years before An Act for the Gradual Elimination of Slavery became law in Pennsylvania, which consigned her to the status of slave for the rest of her life; Whereas Sojourner Truth, starting at the age of 9 and continuing into adolescence, was bought and sold 4 times and bore at least 5 children, but lived to overcome her hardscrabble beginning to become one of the most famous and influential women of the 19th century; Whereas, in 1827, the year before a New York law freeing slaves took effect, Sojourner Truth escaped from bondage with her infant daughter Sophia and sought refuge with staunch abolitionists Maria Van Wagener and her husband Dr. Isaac Van Wagener; Whereas for 20 dollars the Van Wageners bought Sojourner Truth’s freedom and helped her successfully sue for the return of her 5-year-old son Peter, who had been illegally sold into slavery in Alabama; Whereas, in 1828, Sojourner Truth moved to New York City to work for a local minister and, by the early 1830s, her reputation of being a charismatic speaker was becoming well known; Whereas, in 1843, Sojourner Truth declared that the Holy Spirit called on her to preach the truth, renaming herself Sojourner Truth; Whereas Sojourner Truth used her divinely inspired gift of speech to advocate for equal treatment of all persons, including the right of all women to enjoy the same privileges and immunities the Constitution bestowed upon men