She was born Isabella Baumfree (1797–1883) and Dutch was her first language, and she was born 95 north of NYC in upstate NY. She was owned by 4 separate slave owners. She fell in love with a slave on a neighboring farm, but was not allowed to be with him, but eventually married and had 5 children. Her owner promised to free her if she was a good slave, and then didn't. She escaped in 1826, taking only an infant and leaving other children behind. Her children were sold in the south, illegally. She went to court and won the right to have him back, a monumental case. She traveled speaking about abolition and joined a Christian religious cult that thought Jesus was coming back. When he didn't arrive, she distanced herself from the cult. She also worked as a housekeeper. She dictated her story to Olive Gilbert and in 1850 William Lloyd Garrison privately published her memoirs in 1854, the year Walden came out. She had a speech entitled "Ain't I A Woman?".
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