Google honors abolitionist, activist Sojourner Truth with a new Doodle

Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating abolitionist and women's rights activist Sojourner Truth with a new Doodle in honor of Black History Month.

Truth was born into slavery in New York around 1797 where she experienced horrors such as seeing her children sold off into servitude. She eventually earned her freedom and changed her name to Truth from Isabella Baumfree and began an advocacy journey throughout the United States.

Truth, after receiving encouragement from fellow activists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, published a memoir in 1850 to speak out against the evils of slavery.

The success of the book led to her meeting President Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Truth went on to start a lecture tour that included a women's rights activists conference in Akron, Ohio where she gave her famous "Ain't I Woman" speech about how women of any race are as strong and capable as men.

Truth's memoir recounted how she escaped from slavery with her infant daughter, having to leave her other children behind. She would sue for the freedom of her five-year-old son Peter who had been sold illegally by a former slavemaster. Truth made history with the lawsuit as she became one of the first black women to successfully sue a white man in the United States.

Truth is set to be featured on the U.S. ten dollar bill with other suffragists starting in 2020 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the power to vote.

Google's homepage features artwork by Philadelphia artist Loveis Wise. Truth is depicted walking with other women through a field, towards a courthouse.

"Without her work and the awareness Sojourner spread, the U.S. would not be what it currently is today! It's important to lift up her legacy and reflect on that," Wise said when asked about her Doodle.