Page 70 - All About History - Issue 54-17

Regency women

Sojourner Truth

C. 1797 — 26 November 1883
This former slave went to court to free her child

Sojourner Truth made history when she escaped slavery and
discovered that her five-year-old son remained in chains. She had
been sold at the age of nine for the price of $100 and a flock of
sheep, and her life had been hard as she was passed around owners
throughout New York.
Following her daring escape from captivity, her life changed
forever. In a groundbreaking legal case, Sojourner took the man who
owned her child to court and won, becoming the first black woman
to legally challenge a white man and emerge victorious.
Sojourner was celebrated among abolitionists for her remarkable
achievement and became a public speaker who was in high demand.
Wherever she was due to lecture, she was a hot ticket. Her speeches
were on slavery and suffrage and she became famed for her
passionate speech Ain’t I A Woman, which was widely published
across America.
Sojourner wasn’t content with simply giving speeches, though,
and campaigned for years to secure territory from the government Sojourner, shown here in
c.1870, collected food and
for those who had once been held captive as slaves. Her fight was
clothing for black troops
unsuccessful, but she never gave up her crusade and is celebrated in Michigan during the
across the world to this day. American Civil War
Elizabeth Fry

21 May 1780 — 12 October 1845
The ‘Angel of the Prisons’ pioneered penal reform

When Elizabeth Fry attended a speech on the matter of the plight of the poor
W
g given by William Savery, her life changed forever. Barely 18 years old, she
d devoted the rest of her life to helping those who lived in poverty. However,
it was a visit to Newgate Prison, London, in 1813 that set her on the crusade
it
t that shaped her legacy.
Elizabeth was horrified by the conditions
s she saw in Newgate — particularly the fate
o of children who had been incarcerated
in dreadful conditions alongside their
mothers. She established the British
Ladies’ Society for Promoting the
Reformation of Female Prisoners, aimed
at teaching the women how to sew. This,
she hoped, would greatly enhance their
Elizabeth donated food and employability when they were released.
clothes to the women and Not content with this, though, Elizabeth was
Not content with this, though, Elizabeth was instrumental in the campaign against
children at Newgate Prison.
She eventually funded a penal transportation. She faced loud criticism for her efforts to reform the prison
prison school there system and was accused of neglecting her husband and children in favour of her work.
When her husband was bankrupted, her enemies even falsely claimed that Elizabeth
had siphoned money from her charities to bail him out. But through her endeavours,
Elizabeth won the backing of no less a woman than Queen Victoria herself, who made Queen Victoria contributed
contributions of her own to Elizabeth’s charities. money to Elizabeth’s cause
after ascending the throne

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