Twenty-Five Cents and a New Name

On the morning of June 1, 1843, a woman named Isabella Baumfree packed a pillowcase with a few belongings, tucked twenty-five cents into her pocket, and walked out of New York City. She told her employer she could no longer stay. The Spirit of God, she said, had given her a new name: Sojourner Truth. Born into slavery in Ulster County, New York, she had been sold five times before the age of twelve.…