Sojourner Truth Memorial in Esopus

Many statues are commemorating Sojourner Truth, the orator, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist who escaped from slavery. While all of those depicts Truth as an older free woman, this bronze statue, created by the sculptress Trina Greene, portrays her as a young, enslaved girl, carrying jugs, barefoot on the way to her master’s tavern. The scars on her back emphasize her upbringing as a slave.

This Sojourner Truth Memorial was dedicated on September 21st, 2013, in the Town of Esopus, only a few miles from the area she grew up as a Slave.

Near the statue, lays a plaque describing Truth’s life story, from the first 32 years of her life as a slave in Ulster County to the civil rights symbol she became, reminding the visitors that the institution of slavery was not only in the south but all over the country, including New York State.

Another plaque honoring Truth is located at the corner of River Road and Route 9W, at Schryver’s tavern where Truth lived as a slave when she was 11 or 12 years old.