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How did Sojourner Truth contribute to early African American literature and activism?

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Phillis Wheatley's first book of poetry — African American literature Frontispiece and title page of *Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral* (1773) by Phillis Wheatley, the first Black woman to become a poet of note in the United States. The portrait on which the frontispiece's engraving is based is often attributed to Scipio Moorhead, an Black artist and writer who, like Wheatley, was enslaved and living in Boston.

Sojourner Truth made a significant contribution to early African American literature and activism despite never learning to read or write. Her primary literary contribution was the 1850 publication of her life story, Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave, which she dictated to others. This work stands as a vital testament to the experiences of enslaved people in the North.1

In terms of activism, Truth was a preeminent fighter against slavery and a champion for women’s rights. She became the first Black woman in U.S. history to successfully sue a white man, winning custody of her son Peter. Her oratorical skills were legendary; while her most famous speech, the "Ain't I a Woman?" address, is often misquoted due to later, stylized transcriptions, her actual speeches served as powerful indictments of racial and gender-based power structures. By traveling to advocate for abolition and universal voting rights, she utilized her voice and personal narrative to challenge the moral failings of 19th-century America.12