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- November 26
November 26
Mary Edwards Walker, Sojourner Truth, and Bill W.
David Barnhart
November 26, 2025
Thistle, Eisenach, 2022. Own photo.
Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed November 26, 1863 to be a day of national Thanksgiving, to be followed thereafter on the final Thursday of November. Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt moved the holiday one week earlier during the Great Depression to boost holiday sales, public outcry led it to being moved back to the fourth Thursday of November.
Today is the birthday, in 1832, of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a surgeon, abolitionist, and women’s suffrage activist, who was captured during the Civil War while attempting to treat wounded civilians across enemy lines. She is the only woman who has received the Medal of Honor. She also advocated freedom of dress for women, and was arrested for wearing men’s clothing, to which she responded, "I don't wear men's clothes, I wear my own clothes."
It is also the birthday, in 1895, of Bill W. (Bill Wilson), co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. Bill suffered from depression and PTSD, but found relief from his alcoholism soon after he joined a Christian small group.
Today marks the death, in 1883, of Sojourner Truth, abolitionist and freedom-worker. After a difficult life in slavery in New York, she escaped, then won a lawsuit against the slave owner who had bought her ten-year old son, emancipating him as well. She renamed herself from Isabella Bomefree to “Sojourner Truth” on Pentecost day in 1843, after hearing a message from the Holy Spirit telling her to go and preach the truth.
Reflection:
Bill W. wrote:
“In God’s economy, nothing is wasted.”
and
“No matter how unreasonable others may seem, I am responsible for not reacting negatively. Regardless of what is happening around me I will always have the prerogative, and the responsibility, of choosing what happens within me. I am the creator of my own reality. When I [review my day], I know that I must stop judging others. If I judge others, I am probably judging myself. Whoever is upsetting me most is my best teacher. I have much to learn from him or her, and in my heart, I should thank that person.”
Bill W. also liked to quote the following William Blake verse:
“I looked for my God, but He I could not see; I looked for my soul, but it eluded me; I sought my brother, and I found all three.”
Prayer: God, help us to see your image in the human beings around us. Amen.