Current:Home > MarketsPlaza dedicated at the site where Sojourner Truth gave her 1851 ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ speech-LoTradeCoin
Plaza dedicated at the site where Sojourner Truth gave her 1851 ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ speech
View Date:2024-12-24 00:04:39
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Hundreds gathered in an Ohio city on Wednesday to unveil a plaza and statue dedicated to abolitionist Sojourner Truth at the very spot where the women’s rights pioneer gave an iconic 1851 speech now known as “Ain’t I a Woman?”
Truth, a formerly enslaved person, delivered the speech to a crowd gathered at the Universalist Old Stone Church in Akron for the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. In the speech, Truth drew upon the hardships she faced while she was enslaved and asked the audience why her humanity and the humanity of other enslaved African Americans was not seen in the same light as white Americans.
Though the church no longer exists, the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza and the United Way of Summit and Medina Counties now stand in its place.
Towanda Mullins, chairperson of the Sojourner Truth Project-Akron, said the plaza will honor a piece of the country’s past and help to shape its future.
“It’s going to remind others to be the first one to speak up, to speak up for all, not just for some,” she said.
Before taking the name Sojourner Truth, Isabella Bomfree was born into slavery in or around 1797 in the Hudson Valley. She walked away from the home of her final owner in 1826 with her infant daughter after he reneged on a promise to free her. She went to work for the Van Wagenen family, and took their surname.
Truth is believed to be the first Black woman to successfully sue white men to get her son released from slavery, though it’s possible there were other cases researchers are unaware of.
The statue, created by artist and Akron native Woodrow Nash, shows Truth standing tall, holding a book. The monument sits on top of an impala lily, the national flower of Ghana, where Truth’s father traced his heritage.
“It was an opportunity to embed within the design of the memorial to uplift the overlooked contribution of Black women civic leaders that have sojourned in Truth’s footsteps,” said Brent Leggs, executive director and senior vice president of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Large, stone pillars stand guard around the plaza with words like “faith” and “activism” engraved at the top, with a quote from Truth below it.
One of Truth’s quotes on a pillar reads, “I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.”
Dion Harris, the landscape architect who designed the plaza said he wanted to use natural materials from the northeast Ohio area that would have been used to construct the former church, including sandstone and stone.
“I wanted to show the industrial side of Akron,” Harris said. “I wanted to show every side of her and capture some of the time of the 1850s when she came.”
Akron’s statue and plaza isn’t the only place Truth is honored. A bronze statue depicting her and women’s rights pioneers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony was unveiled in New York’s Central Park in 2020, becoming the park’s first monument honoring historical heroines. Another statue of Truth was unveiled in Angola, Indiana, in 2021, at the same place she gave a speech in June 1861, according to the city’s website.
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund opened the plaza. The project was funded by the Knight Foundation, United Way of Summit and Medina, the Sojourner Truth Project-Akron and the Akron Community Foundation, according to a release.
“This is not an African American story. This is an American story. History at its best for all people,” Mullins said.
veryGood! (779)
Related
- Man Found Dead in Tanning Bed at Planet Fitness Gym After 3 Days
- The Supreme Court refuses to block an Illinois law banning some high-power semiautomatic weapons
- NFL free agency: How top signees have fared on their new teams this season
- Tribes are celebrating a White House deal that could save Northwest salmon
- Republican Gabe Evans ousts Democratic US Rep. Yadira Caraveo in Colorado
- Oregon’s top court hears arguments in suit filed by GOP senators seeking reelection after boycott
- See Gigi Hadid, Zoë Kravitz and More Stars at Taylor Swift's Birthday Party
- SAG-AFTRA to honor Barbra Streisand for life achievement at Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Barbora Krejcikova calls out 'unprofessional' remarks about her appearance
- Planned After School Satan Club sparks controversy in Tennessee
Ranking
- Biden funded new factories and infrastructure projects, but Trump might get to cut the ribbons
- AP Week in Pictures: Asia
- AP Week in Pictures: Latin America and Caribbean
- Theme weddings: Couples can set their love ablaze at Weeded Bliss
- NASCAR Championship race live updates, how to watch: Cup title on the line at Phoenix
- They're in the funny business: Cubicle comedians make light of what we all hate about work
- Home of Tampa Bay Rays eyes name change, but team says it would threaten stadium deal
- Former Turkish soccer team president gets permanent ban for punching referee
Recommendation
-
Former North Carolina labor commissioner becomes hospital group’s CEO
-
How Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick's Kids Mason and Reign Are Celebrating Their Birthday
-
Asha traveled over 100 miles across state lines. Now, the endangered Mexican wolf has a mate.
-
1 in 5 seniors still work — and they're happier than younger workers
-
School workers accused of giving special needs student with digestive issue hot Takis, other abuse
-
Why more women live in major East Coast counties while men outnumber them in the West
-
Bull on the loose on New Jersey train tracks causes delays between Newark and Manhattan
-
Fentanyl-tainted gummy bears sicken 5 kids at Virginia school; couple charged in case.