Editing Sojourner Truth (section)

==On a mission==
Truth dedicated her life to fighting for a more equal society for African Americans and for women, including abolition, voting rights, and property rights. She was at the vanguard of efforts to address intersecting social justice issues. As historian Martha Jones wrote, "[w]hen Black women like Truth spoke of rights, they mixed their ideas with challenges to slavery and to racism. Truth told her own stories, ones that suggested that a women's movement might take another direction, one that championed the broad interests of all humanity."<ref>{{cite web|last=Jones|first=Martha|date=September 10, 2020<!--checked vs source code of ref webpage, 2021/12/26-->|title='I Am Women's Rights': How Sojourner Truth Advocated for Black Women|url=https://theattic.jezebel.com/i-am-womens-rights-how-sojourner-truth-advocated-for-b-1844948277|access-date=March 29, 2021|archive-date=May 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502042404/https://theattic.jezebel.com/i-am-womens-rights-how-sojourner-truth-advocated-for-b-1844948277|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Truth{{snd}}along with [[Stephen Symonds Foster]] and [[Abby Kelley|Abby Kelley Foster]], [[Jonathan Walker (abolitionist)|Jonathan Walker]], Marius Robinson, and [[Sallie Holley]]{{snd}}reorganized the [[Michigan Anti-Slavery Society]] in 1853 in [[Adrian, Michigan]].<ref name="Coggan">{{Cite journal |last=Coggan |first=Blanche |date=1964 |title=The Underground Railroad In Michigan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44174961 |journal=Negro History Bulletin |volume=27 |issue=5 |pages=125–126 |jstor=44174961 |issn=0028-2529 }}</ref> The state society was founded in 1836 in [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]].<ref name="Mull">{{Cite web |last=Mull |first=Carol E. |title=Signal of Liberty |url=https://aadl.org/signalofliberty |access-date=March 30, 2022 |website=Ann Arbor District Library}}</ref>

In 1856, Truth bought a neighboring lot in Northampton, but she did not keep the new property for long. On September 3, 1857, she sold all her possessions, new and old, to Daniel Ives and moved to [[Battle Creek, Michigan]], where she rejoined former members of the Millerite movement who had formed the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]]. Antislavery movements had begun early in Michigan and Ohio. Here, she also joined the nucleus of the Michigan abolitionists, the [[Progressive Friends]], some who she had already met at national conventions.<ref name="Washington"/> From 1857 to 1867 Truth lived in the village of Harmonia, Michigan, a [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualist]] utopia. She then moved into nearby Battle Creek, Michigan, living at her home on 38 College St. until her death in 1883.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/life/2019/01/16/rise-and-fall-harmonia-battle-creeks-spiritualist-utopia/2214809002/|title=The rise and fall of Harmonia, a Spiritualist utopia and home to Sojourner Truth|last=Buckley|first=Nick|website=Battle Creek Enquirer|language=en|access-date=February 7, 2020}}</ref> According to the 1860 [[United States Census|census]], her household in Harmonia included her daughter, Elizabeth Banks (age 35), and her grandsons James Caldwell (misspelled as "Colvin"; age 16) and Sammy Banks (age 8).<ref name="Sojourner TruthInstitute"/>

Truth helped recruit black troops for the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Her grandson, James Caldwell, enlisted in the [[54th Massachusetts Regiment]]. In 1864, Truth was employed by the National Freedman's Relief Association in Washington, D.C., where she worked diligently to improve conditions for African-Americans. In October of that year, she was invited to the [[White House]] by President [[Abraham Lincoln]].<ref name="Sojourner TruthInstitute"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Sojourner Truth |url=https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sojourner-truth |website=History.com |access-date=April 4, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> In 1865, while working at the [[Freedman's Hospital]] in Washington, Truth rode in the streetcars to help force their [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]].<ref name="Sojourner TruthInstitute"/>

Truth is credited with writing a song, "[[s:The Valiant Soldiers|The Valiant Soldiers]]", for the [[102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops|1st Michigan Colored Regiment]]; it was said to be composed during the war and sung by her in Detroit and Washington, D.C. It is sung to the tune of "[[John Brown's Body]]" or "[[The Battle Hymn of the Republic]]".<ref name="DocSouth">{{cite web |url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/truth84/truth84.html |title=Documenting the American South |work=Narrative of Sojourner Truth |access-date=November 7, 2007}}</ref> Although Truth claimed to have written the words, it has been disputed (see "[[Marching Song of the First Arkansas]]").

In 1867, Truth moved from Harmonia to Battle Creek. In 1868, she traveled to western New York and visited with [[Amy Post]], and continued traveling all over the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]]. At a speaking engagement in Florence, Massachusetts, after she had just returned from a very tiring trip, when Truth was called upon to speak she stood up and said, "Children, I have come here like the rest of you, to hear what I have to say."<ref name="SJBIO">{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9840/sojourn.html|title=Sojourner Truth page|work=Sojourner Truth Biography |access-date=December 28, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051222032347/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9840/sojourn.html|archive-date=December 22, 2005}}</ref>

In 1870, Truth tried to secure [[land grant]]s from the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] to former enslaved people, a project she pursued for seven years without success. While in Washington, D.C., she had a meeting with President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in the [[White House]]. In 1872, she returned to Battle Creek, became active in Grant's presidential re-election campaign, and even tried to vote on Election Day, but was turned away at the polling place.<ref name=":0" />

Truth spoke about abolition, women's rights, prison reform, and preached to the Michigan Legislature against capital punishment. Not everyone welcomed her preaching and lectures, but she had many friends and staunch support among many influential people at the time, including [[Amy Post]], [[Parker Pillsbury]], [[Frances Dana Barker Gage|Frances Gage]], [[Wendell Phillips]], [[William Lloyd Garrison]], [[Laura Smith Haviland]], [[Lucretia Mott]], [[Ellen G. White]], and [[Susan B. Anthony]].<ref name="SJBIO"/>