The family that owned Sojourner and her parents, the Hardenberghs, gave money and resources to Rutgers University when it was known as Queens College. Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh, who served under General George Washington in the American Revolution, was a trustee of Rutgers. The Hardenberghs were a wealthy family, using slaves’ unpaid labor to run their family business. In turn, they shared some of this wealth with Queens College.

While slavery is normally only associated with the American South, the Hardenberghs (and many other slave-owning families like them) lived in the North. According to Sojourner Truth, the Colonel’s son Charles moved Truth and her parents from their cottage to live in the basement of his large stone house, which served as a hotel. The basement had a mud and board floor, on which the slaves slept only with straw and blankets. There were only a few windows, so it was also dim. In addition to working hard without pay, they had to grow their own food on a small plot of land. Charles did not provide subsistence for his slaves.

Sojourner Truth’s parents were not freed like Sojourner. When they became too old to work after Charles died, the family decided to free them, freeing Mau-Mau so she could take care of Bomefree, who was blind and infirm, putting them both in an isolated cabin far from the family property. However, Mau-Mau died shortly after receiving manumission, and Bomefree could not care for himself. He died alone in the cabin, either from cold or starvation.