Congresswoman Barbara Lee Attends Unveiling of Sojourner Truth Bust
For Immediate Release
April 28, 2009
Contact: Nicole Y. Williams
(202) 225-2661
Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee released this statement following the unveiling of the bust of Sojourner Truth:
“How fitting it is that we gathered today in Emancipation Hall to celebrate the life and legacy of one of the greatest heroines of American history – Sojourner Truth. I along with my colleagues stand of the shoulders of Sojourner Truth and so many other great women who have paved the way for us to be where we are today.
“Sojourner Truth once said, ‘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!’
“Today, it is time for us as women to take our rightful place and let our voices be heard so that we can turn this world right side up again.
“I applaud my colleague Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the National Congress of Black Women, the late C. Delores Tucker and everyone who worked so hard to ensure that Sojourner Truth receive a fitting tribute in the Halls of Congress.”
An American slave, abolitionist, and women's rights activist, Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in 1797. In 1843, she took the name Sojourner Truth, believing this to be on the instructions of the Holy Spirit and became a traveling preacher. In the late 1840s she connected with the abolitionist movement, becoming a popular speaker. In 1850, she also began speaking on woman suffrage. Her most famous speech, “Ain't I a Woman?” was given in 1851 at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio.
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