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Loan Policy | Location & Hours | About Sojourner Truth
The Oxon Hill Branch of the Prince George's County Memorial Library
System was built on the site of the Sojourner Truth Elementary
School in 1967, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In
response to the Civil Rights era's great and growing need for
African American research materials, the Oxon Hill Branch Library's
special collection focuses on African American history and culture.
Named for Sojourner Truth, the collection continues to honor one
of this country's truly remarkable women and has become an outstanding
regional resource.
This comprehensive collection of reference materials on African
American history and culture includes over 16,000 cataloged items
(many are rare or out-of-print), periodicals, sheet music by African
American composers, pictures and posters. Vertical files contain
pamphlets, clippings and bibliographies. Copies of selected materials
are also in the Oxon Hill Branch's circulating collection. An
extensive collection of current and historical periodicals, including
the NAACP's Crisis from 1910, the Journal of Negro History from
1916 and Ebony from 1945.
The collection includes original editions of some slave narratives,
as well as many reprint editions and the thirty-one volume Writer's
Project series. Other topics are antislavery and slavery tracts,
literary criticism, and the history of African Americans in Maryland
and Prince George's County.
The books in the Sojourner Truth Room appear in the library catalog.
A separate index of biographies, short stories, plays and literary
criticism in the collection is available in the Sojourner Truth
Room.
The materials are for use only in the Sojourner Truth Room. A
library card or other identification is necessary for the use
of some materials.
Copies of selected materials are also in the Oxon Hill Branch's
circulating collection. A photocopy machine is available.
The Sojourner Truth Room is located at the Oxon
Hill Library and is accessible during branch hours :
- Mon.-Thurs10am-9pm;
- Fri. 10am-6pm;
- Sat. 10am-5pm;
- Sun.1-5pm
Sojourner Truth was born a slave named Isabella about 1797 in
Ulster County, New York. Before the age of thirty, she had served
three masters, married, and had five children. In 1827, she escaped
from her abusive master. The following year, she became free under
the New York Anti-Slavery Act.
In 1843, she experienced a call from God to preach. Beacause
she did not want to carry anything from her life of slavery into
her life as a free woman, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth
- Sojourner because she was going to travel throughout the country,
and Truth because she was going to declare truth to the people.
Working in the abolitionist and women's rights movements, her
imposing stature, commanding personality, and captivating speaking
style made her a popular speaker and one of the best known women
of her time. Her address at the Akron, Ohio, Women's Rights Convention
in 1851, in the version known as "Ain't I a Woman",
is one of her most influential speeches. She supported herself
by publishing her autobiography, The Narrative Sojourner Truth,
which she dictated to her friend, Olive Gilbert.
After the Civil War, Sojourner Truth traveled to Washington,
D.C., where she worked to improve living conditions for African
Americans, and to integrate the city's streetcars. She also attempted
to persuade the government to set aside land in Kansas and Missouri
for freedmen.
In 1875, she retired to her home in Battle Creek, Michigan,
where she died on November 26, 1883.
One of the most important women of the nineteenth century, Sojourner
Truth remains a powerful symbol of the struggle for the rights
of African Americans and women. In 1981, she was inducted in to
the National Women's Hall of Fame. http://www.greatwomen.org
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Prince
George's County Memorial Library System