Though she was born into slavery and subjected to physical and sexual abuse by her owners, sojourner truth came to represent the power of individual strength and perseverance. She championed the disadvantaged--black in t...Though she was born into slavery and subjected to physical and sexual abuse by her owners, sojourner truth came to represent the power of individual strength and perseverance. She championed the disadvantaged--black in the south, women in the north--yet spent much of her free life with middle-class whites, who supported her, yet never failed to remind her that she was a second class citizen.