"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!" said Sojourner Truth, the former slave-turned-abolitionist who was also an early crusader for women"s rights.And though she spoke those words in an 1851 speech at the Women"s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) could very well have been describing the ladies who gathered at the Capitol in Washington, DC to unveil a bronze bust in her honor.
WASHINGTON (AP) � First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday reflected on her own family"s rise from slavery to the White House as she helped to unveil a statue of abolitionist Sojourner Truth � the first black woman to be so honored at the Capitol."I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as the first lady of the United States of America," Mrs. Obama said to loud applause at a ceremony at the Capitol Visitor Center.
An early crusader for women"s right to vote and for an end to slavery, Truth met presidents Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and Ulysses S. Grant in 1870, and delivered her signature "Ain"t I a Woman?" speech at a women"s rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. Truth, a former slave, tried to vote on two occasions, but was turned away both times. She died in November 1883 at her home in Battle Creek, Mich.
Lawmakers, students and actress Cicely Tyson were among those who gathered at the visitor"s center to celebrate Truth"s legacy and watch Mrs. Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others unveil the bronze bust of Truth.
"We"re here because of barriers she challenged and fought to tear down, and paths she helped to forge and trod alone," Clinton said to an audience made up mostly of women.
Artist Artis Lane created the bust, which was paid for with private money. LinkHere
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When Sojournertruth arrived at the White House she was accompanied by her good friend Lucy Colman. Together the two friends communicated with President Abraham Lincoln. According to Sojournertruth:
‘The president was seated at his desk. Mrs. C. said to him, “This is Sojourner Truth, who has come all the way from Michigan to see you.” He then arose, gave me his hand, made a bow, and said, “I am pleased to see you.”
I said to him, Mr. President, when you first took your seat I feared you would be torn to pieces, for I likened you unto Daniel, who was thrown into the lion’s den; and if the lions did not tear you into pieces, I knew that it would be God that had saved you; and I said if he spared me I would see you before the four years expired, and he has done so, and now I am here to see you for myself.
He then congratulated me on my having been spared. Then I said, I appreciate you, for you are the best president who has ever taken the seat. He replied: ‘I expect you have reference to my having emancipated the slaves in my proclamation. But,’ said he, mentioning the names of several of his predecessors (and among them emphatically that of Washington), ‘they were all just as good, and would have done just as I have done if the time had come. If the people over the river [pointing across the Potomac] had behaved themselves, I could not have done what I have; but they did not, which gave me the opportunity to do these things.’ I then said, I thank God that you were the instrument selected by him and the people to do it. I told him that I had never heard of him before he was talked of for president. He smilingly replied, ‘I had heard of you many times before that.’
He then showed me the Bible presented to him by the colored people of Baltimore, of which you have no doubt seen a description. I have seen it for myself, and it is beautiful beyond description. After I had looked it over, I said to him, This is beautiful indeed; the colored people have given this to the head of the government, and that government once sanctioned laws that would not permit its people to learn enough to enable them to read this book. And for what? Let them answer who can.
I must say, and I am proud to say, that I never was treated by any one with more kindness and cordiality than were shown to me by that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln, by the grace of God president of the United States for four years more. He took my little book, and with the same hand that signed the death-warrant of slavery, he wrote as follows:
For Aunty Sojourner Truth October 29, 1864 A. LINCOLN’
Students of Sojournertruth and her New York years may find this interesting.
Matthias called himself "the Spirit of truth."
Isabella Van Wagener called herself "Sojournertruth"
FREE downloadable informed choices student guide. http://www.clashoftheprophets.com/documents/Informed%20choices%20guide.pdf
More information at: https://cld.bz/J7EQAGt
Main web site at: http://www.clashoftheprophets.com/indexmain.html
Sincerely
Mike Wilkins
(Clash Of The Prophets The Beginning)
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