Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in upstate New York. She was born A slave, but in 1826 escaped with her infant daughter to freedom. In 1843 Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth as a reflection of her devotion to African-American freedom and women’s rights. She was a powerful and impassioned speaker. Her best-known speechon racial inequalities, “Ain’t I a Woman?” was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. Although she began her career as an abolitionist, the reform causes she supported were broad and varied, including prison reform, property rights and universal voting rights.