Albany, NY – A bill introduced by Senator Michelle Hinchey in 2021 to commemorate November 26th as Sojourner Truth Day on the state calendar had repeatedly passed the Senate, but not the Assembly, where it was stuck in the Government Operations committee. Freshman Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha re-introduced it last year as a priority bill. Yesterday, the bill passed both the Senate and the Assembly for the first time and will head to the Governor’s desk for signing. For a bill to become law, it must pass both chambers and get signed by the Governor.

“When I first took office, the bill to commemorate Sojourner Truth was one of the bills my predecessor had that I wanted to make sure I re-introduced. The story of Sojourner Truth and her historic lawsuit against white slave owners is integral to the history of Ulster County, and it didn’t make sense that while New York commemorates Truth’s peers, she herself was not officially commemorated on the calendar. When I re-introduced it and took it to my colleagues for co-sponsorship, a lot of them were excited to learn about the initiative. The bill passed with 48 cosponsors and bipartisan support and was reported out of the committee with no negative votes.

Unlike a resolution, which is one-time, a commemoration is an annual remembrance day on the state calendar. The Assembly doesn’t pass many commemoration bills, but we were able to successfully make a case that this one is special. I want to thank the Speaker of the Assembly and my Assembly colleagues for their support, and to Senator Hinchey and the Kingston YMCA Farm Project for bringing this bill to life.I hope this official day of remembrance will encourage the re-telling and celebration of Truth’s story every year.”

Sojourner Truth was a New York-born abolitionist who escaped slavery with her infant daughter in 1826 and dedicated the remainder of her life to fighting for equality. Truth was born into slavery in 1797 in the Hudson Valley and was sold multiple times to slave owners there. In I828, she became the first Black woman to successfully sue white men to get her son released from slavery – a historic lawsuit that took place at the Ulster County Courthouse in Kingston, New York.

“Of the well-known black abolitionists of the 19th century, Maryland-born Harriet Tubman is the only one New York State commemorates. Susan B. Anthony, who is associated with Truth in their struggle for women’s suffrage, is also commemorated by New York, but Sojourner Truth is not, despite experiencing and fighting slavery right here in our state and going on to gain national prominence as one of the best known social reformers of the era. New York’s history of emancipation and women rights is embarrassingly incomplete without the story of Sojourner Truth. I look forward to when commemorating November 26th, the date of her death, as Sojourner Truth Day, will become law.”