Legislation honors Sojourner Truth

Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Arlen Specter (R-PA) recently introduced legislation to honor women’s suffragist leader Sojourner Truth. The bill calls on the Joint Committee on the Library to accept the donation of a statue depicting Sojourner Truth and display it in the United States Capitol Building. This legislation reflects important revisions to a previous bill introduced in the 108th Congress that also honored Sojourner Truth.

“It is past time that we honor a woman who, despite all of the hardships she faced, was a tireless advocate for women’s rights. Sojourner Truth deserves to be represented in the United States Capitol Building along with others who have been recognized for their work in the women’s suffrage movement,” said Senator Clinton.
“Sojourner Truth was a leader in the abolitionist movement and a groundbreaking speaker on behalf of equality for women,” Senator Specter said. “It is important that she be honored for her contributions to the women’s suffrage movement with a monument in the United States Capitol Building.”

Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in New York’s Hudson Valley in 1797. After gaining her freedom in 1826 she moved to New York City and by 1843 had changed her name to Sojourner Truth. For much of her adult life she traveled the country preaching for human rights. After attending the 1850 National Woman’s Rights Convention, Truth made women’s suffrage a focal point of her speeches, portraying women as powerful, independent figures. Her most famous speech, “Ain’t I A Woman,” given at the IBM Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, has become a classic text on women’s rights. Truth was a powerful figure within several additional national social movements, including the abolition of slavery, the rights of freedmen, temperance, prison reform, and the termination of capital punishment.

Similar legislation honoring Truth was passed by the House of Representatives in December 2005.

Pictured Above Senator Hilary Clinton