Advertisement

Sojourner Truth court documents found 194 years after legal battle to free enslaved son

09:32
Download Audio
Resume
Portrait of African-American orator and civil rights activist Sojourner Truth. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Portrait of African-American orator and civil rights activist Sojourner Truth. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Historian Nell Irvin Painter is calling a new find in the New York state archives dramatic and moving. The documents accidentally uncovered by archivist Jim Folts detail abolitionist and women's rights advocate Sojourner Truth's legal battle — and victory — to free her 9-year-old enslaved son.

Folts and Irvin Painter join Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about the unexpected find and its significance.

This segment aired on June 20, 2022.

Advertisement

More from Here & Now

Listen Live
Close