Souljourning June 20. . . YMCA Farm Project. . . Sojourner Truth Library @ SUNY New Paltz

 The YMCA in Kingston has a farm where the youth grow food which they sell and learn about political activism.

I met a young woman,  Aleshanee Emanuel, at the Juneteenth program at the Courthouse where Sojourner Truth (then Isabelle Van Wagener) sued the state for custody of her son, Peter, and won. The court papers she signed which had been recently located after being lost for over 100 years where on display that day, June 16, 2022. 

Emanuel led the campaign to get New York to recognize Sojourner Truth Day. She also designed the lovely poster which the YMCA activists wore in court that day. 

The City of New Paltz, Ulster County and Kingston honored the youths petition for Sojourner Truth Day, but New York State has not. 

Aleshanee Emanuel

Wanda, Truth as a child, Iya Jo

City University of New York@New Paltz in the Sojourner Truth Library 

These photos are from a mural at the library which illustrates Truth's story