What did Sojourner Truth do for black people?

Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. (This was a big deal!) her best known extemporaneous speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I A Woman?" was delivered in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.

During the Civil War, Truth helped recruit black troops for the Union Army; after the war, Truth tried unsuccessfully to secure land grands from the federal government for former slaves. (Which would fall under the Homestead Act) The fact isn't that she failed; it is that she tried.

She became an advocate for African Americans, and a role model on standing up to inequalities and poor treatment.