In July of 1826 Sojourner Truth simply walked away from slavery, with her

youngest child.  She didn't run...she didn't go very far...she simply

decided she wasn't going to be a slave anymore. 

Some years earlier the New York state legislature passed two laws,

gradually emancipating slaves.  The laws essentially provided that all

adult slaves would be set free on July 4, 1827 and any child, born after a

certain date, to an enslaved mother, would have to work for the mother's

owner until the age of 21—at which time the child would also be free.