Speak Truth
provided by Sojourner Truth Project: Akron
At 6-foot-1, Sojourner Truth will stand, arms reaching out — a stunning new bronze statue displayed in a plaza dedicated to the abolitionist and women’s suffrage activist.
“I wanted her to provoke thought and conversation as people enter the park and feel invited — that’s why her arms are extended with the Bible in one hand,” says renowned Akron artist Woodrow Nash, who was commissioned to create the statue for the Sojourner Truth plaza estimated to be completed in October.
The statue will rest at the closest approximation of where Truth delivered her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech about the exclusion of Black women in the women’s suffrage movement at the 1851 Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in Akron at the former Old Stone Church, which is now the site of the United Way of Summit & Medina building.
Nash researched Truth and planned to make a life-size statue that is more realistic than his typical sculptural style. He also researched period clothing and listened to Library of Congress recordings of poetry and music from the era.
“I was trying to place myself in that particular period in history, what she might have been going through not only being a Black person but being a woman,” Nash says.
He crafted a prototype out of clay, which he used to make a mold and then a wax image that went into another mold, which molten bronze is poured into. The wax melts away, leaving the statue to stand on its own.
provided by Sojourner Truth Project: Akron
Powerhouse organizations collaborated to make the project bigger than just a statue. The Summit Suffrage Centennial started in 2019 to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote, and it partnered with United Way, John S. Knight Foundation, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and more to research Truth further and plan a 10,000-square-foot plaza that honors her legacy. It’s the largest public art display dedicated to Sojourner Truth in the United States, according to Towanda Mullins, the chair of Sojourner Truth Project: Akron.
A striking feature is the brick impala lily centerpiece that the statue sits on, which harkens to Truth’s roots in Ghana as its national flower, as well as its reputation in Africa for its resilience.
“She’s a strong structural piece, with this beautiful flower coming out,” says Summit Metro Parks landscape architect Dion Harris, who designed the plaza.
A winding path on either side of it, representative of the canalways used during the time, leads visitors in the footsteps of Truth’s life, with plaques detailing facts about her. Four 10-foot-tall pillars with natural stone surround the statue, representing the architecture of the Old Stone Church. And the entry wall is made out of Corten steel to reference Akron’s industrial roots and features Truth’s name.
“She named herself Sojourner because she was traveling,” Nash says, “and Truth because she … wanted to deliver the truth to power.”
37 N. High St., Akron, summitsuffragecentennial.com // AS
