The message of Sojourner Truth
Is Sojourner Truth Relevant?
Sojourner Truth, Justice Sotomayor and Clarence Page
In every myth, fact and recreation of her most famous speeches, there is a modern day morality lesson
hidden in the life that was Sojourner Truth. It is a truth about the American journey to find its soul in the
twenty-first century. Looking backwards, America’s vacillating soul has swung between neo conservatism
and neo liberalism; a pendulum fueled by duality of hypocrisy, nobility and the fears of the controlling
white male.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner Truth advocated for the right of women and people of color to vote.
She fought to deny the slogan “Women first, Negro Last”. In its place she proclaimed “Ain’t I a woman” –
a person, a woman, a Negro, a child bearing member of humanity, a person of intellect and Christian
morality. In the twenty-first century the appointment of Sonia Maria Sotomayor to the United States
Supreme court could be translated: I am a person, a woman, a Latina, I am a doting daughter, aunt,
godmother, a person of intellect, a person of morality, a person of judicial temperament.
In the nineteenth century, the American acceptance of slavery was replaced with the demand for its
abolishment. When accomplished, the “Negro program” emerged from the abundance of freed slaves and
the problem of warehousing them. Deporting the Negro to the west became a rallying cry to solve the
overcrowding, with Sojourner one of its vocal proponents. Overcrowding of the Negro in the nineteenth
century has cycled to be overcrowding in prison cells of African American men.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner relied on the network of abolitionists, the generosity of admirers, and
the rewards of hard work: housekeeping, sewing, gathering produce, preaching and selling her books. She
had the wisdom and skills to navigate the dangers of slavery, suspicion of murder, sexual battery, and
illiteracy. In the twenty-first century, with a President named Obama, Sojourner might ask “Ain’t things
changed?” She would be gravely disappointed to know even though the American soul has been colored
with idealists, dreamers, believers and hard working souls with networks and social systems to provide
support for every American -- American sons and daughters still face the dangers of slavery to gang
mentality, the hug-a-thug craze, chemical dependency; face being victimized in their neighborhoods to gun
fire; face sexual battery, illiteracy and the acceptance of mediocrity.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner Truth forgave her slave master for his brutality. In 2009 Clarence Page
of the Chicago Tribune writes “we Americans suspiciously watch one another across racial, ethnic, gender
and cultural lines as we uneasily shed our white male supremacist past.” Perhaps we could learn from
Sojourner. Shed our fears, take a stand to provide for the downtrodden, work hard, and give generous
dosages of forgiveness in place of suspicion. “Ain’t we worth it?”
©2009 Kim Russell
Kim Russell is author and performer of “Sojourner Truth: I sell the shadow” a touring show on the life of
Sojourner Truth. Ms. Russell can be reached at kimrussell@earthlink.net
In every myth, fact and recreation of her most famous speeches, there is a modern day morality lesson
hidden in the life that was Sojourner Truth. It is a truth about the American journey to find its soul in the
twenty-first century. Looking backwards, America’s vacillating soul has swung between neo conservatism
and neo liberalism; a pendulum fueled by duality of hypocrisy, nobility and the fears of the controlling
white male.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner Truth advocated for the right of women and people of color to vote.
She fought to deny the slogan “Women first, Negro Last”. In its place she proclaimed “Ain’t I a woman” –
a person, a woman, a Negro, a child bearing member of humanity, a person of intellect and Christian
morality. In the twenty-first century the appointment of Sonia Maria Sotomayor to the United States
Supreme court could be translated: I am a person, a woman, a Latina, I am a doting daughter, aunt,
godmother, a person of intellect, a person of morality, a person of judicial temperament.
In the nineteenth century, the American acceptance of slavery was replaced with the demand for its
abolishment. When accomplished, the “Negro program” emerged from the abundance of freed slaves and
the problem of warehousing them. Deporting the Negro to the west became a rallying cry to solve the
overcrowding, with Sojourner one of its vocal proponents. Overcrowding of the Negro in the nineteenth
century has cycled to be overcrowding in prison cells of African American men.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner relied on the network of abolitionists, the generosity of admirers, and
the rewards of hard work: housekeeping, sewing, gathering produce, preaching and selling her books. She
had the wisdom and skills to navigate the dangers of slavery, suspicion of murder, sexual battery, and
illiteracy. In the twenty-first century, with a President named Obama, Sojourner might ask “Ain’t things
changed?” She would be gravely disappointed to know even though the American soul has been colored
with idealists, dreamers, believers and hard working souls with networks and social systems to provide
support for every American -- American sons and daughters still face the dangers of slavery to gang
mentality, the hug-a-thug craze, chemical dependency; face being victimized in their neighborhoods to gun
fire; face sexual battery, illiteracy and the acceptance of mediocrity.
In the nineteenth century Sojourner Truth forgave her slave master for his brutality. In 2009 Clarence Page
of the Chicago Tribune writes “we Americans suspiciously watch one another across racial, ethnic, gender
and cultural lines as we uneasily shed our white male supremacist past.” Perhaps we could learn from
Sojourner. Shed our fears, take a stand to provide for the downtrodden, work hard, and give generous
dosages of forgiveness in place of suspicion. “Ain’t we worth it?”
©2009 Kim Russell
Kim Russell is author and performer of “Sojourner Truth: I sell the shadow” a touring show on the life of
Sojourner Truth. Ms. Russell can be reached at kimrussell@earthlink.net
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