Why She’s Notable: Sojourner Truth — the child of enslaved people in New York — emancipated herself, walking with her baby daughter to freedom, around 1826. She sued a white man in court for the return of her son, sold into slavery — and, in 1828, won. “Truth was bold enough to even stand up and speak the words outwardly that you want to take a white man to court and sue him. It was unheard of in those days,” says Towanda Mullins, chair of the Sojourner Truth Project-Akron. “Truth won the case and, if that doesn’t empower you, I don’t know what will.” Though she could not read, Truth dictated her autobiography, published in 1850 — and, the following year, delivered her “Ain’t I A Woman?” speech — one of the most influential speeches in American history — while visiting Akron. A preacher, speaker and activist, she was a force of abolitionism and feminism. “She could have lived defeated, but she did not. She chose otherwise,” Mullins says. “She chose to live as an overcomer, became a fighter, strong pillar for the suffragist, and she knew, I will make a difference with my life.”
Her Local Impact: Truth arrived in Akron in 1851, during the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, planning to sell her book. She had not been formally invited to speak. “Listening to everybody, she can’t contain herself,” notes Leianne Neff Heppner, president and CEO of the Summit County Historical Society of Akron, OH. “She goes to the front and asks to speak.” The resulting speech electrified with its powerful, confronting and honest appeal to humanity. Though published accounts of her words vary, Truth’s speech’s famous rallying cry has echoed through history since. “I heard my grandmother, at times, say, ‘Ain’t I A Woman,’ ” Mullins recounts. “That just lights me up like no other. … This phrase has traveled across the world — through the United States, through generations. What Sojourner was to grandmothers — foremothers — is remarkable.”
Her Legacy: “Her voice carried something different than people had ever heard,” Neff Heppner says. Truth’s abolitionist, anti-segregationist and feminist ideals bolstered many influential figures, from Frederick Douglass to Susan B. Anthony — and brought hope to countless others, including Mullins, who led the effort to create a plaza in Truth’s honor. Located in Akron, it features a statue of Truth by Akron sculptor Woodrow Nash, surrounded by pillars bearing her attributes. Mullins hopes visitors will not only reflect on but learn from Truth’s efforts. “Sojourner Truth is surrounded by empowerment pillars to remind the community of her life work: activism, faith, identity and power,” she says, “her strength to rise up — was not for some, but for all.”
Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza, 37 N. High St., Akron, truthlegacyakron.org
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