Memorial to Sojourner Truth unveiled in U.S. Capitol hall

Washington Post

WASHINGTON — She never learned to read or write, and the only known example of her signature seems to spell “Sonnog.”

The only photographs are of her in old age, high cheekbones and strong features, her tight curls covered in a white bonnet. Isabella Baumfree — she didn’t call herself Sojourner Truth until she was 46 — stood more than 6 feet tall. In pictures, she always seems to have a gaze that makes you want to stand up straighter.

On Tuesday, 126 years after the fierce advocate who railed against slavery and for women’s rights died in Battle Creek, Mich., she became the first black woman to be memorialized with a bust in the U.S. Capitol. The ceremony to unveil the likeness was headed by a female secretary of state (Hillary Rodham Clinton), female speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) and, needing no introduction, Michelle Obama.

“I hope that Sojourner Truth would be proud to see me, a descendant of slaves, serving as first lady of the United States,” Obama told the crowd of more than 1,000 in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor Center. She added that she was glad that black children touring the Capitol — “boys and girls like my own daughters” — could now “come to Emancipation Hall and see the face of a woman who looks like them.”

The predominantly female crowd roared its approval to both lines.

The 60-minute ceremony was a feel-good celebration, capping a 10-year struggle to enshrine the 19th-century legend in the Capitol. There were gospel songs and tribute songs and hats worthy of Easter Sunday.

It was a crowd and a day that the girl born into slavery in Ulster County, N.Y., in 1797 would have loved to have been a part of.

Her original owners spoke only Dutch, and as a result young Isabella Baumfree did not learn English until she was nearly 10, and spoke it for the rest of her life with a slight accent. She endured beatings and abuse, was forcibly married early in life, and was once sold for $100 “and a herd of sheep.”

She later gained her freedom, had a profound conversion to Christianity and began a charismatic career as a witty and effective speaker. She changed her name to reflect her personal journey. The book-length story of her slave experiences was a best-seller, and though she gained fame by public speaking, she was always bigger on action.

When she left the man who owned her after he failed to live up to his end of a bargain in which she was to work to earn her freedom, she later said, “I did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right.”

She said, “If women want any rights more than they’s got, why don’t they just take them, and not be talking about it?”