Representing
Truth:
SojournerTruth'sKnowing
and BecomingKnown
Nell IrvinPainter
InNewYorkCityonthefirst
asIsabellaVanWagner
ofJune,
1843,a womanknown
Truthand beganan itinerant
The date
changedhernameto Sojourner
ministry.
forin 1843,June1 wasPentecost,
theChristian
wasmomentous,
holidaythatfalls
Easterandcommemorates
thedaywhentheHolySpirit
filled
fifty
daysafter
Jesus'
Pentecostals
suchas
disciplesand gavethemthepowerto preachto strangers.
in thebiblicalbookofActs,in whichthe
heedLuke'snarration
Truth
Sojourner
in theforeign
HolySpiritmadethedisciples
speakin tongues,
languages
thatlet
themteachpeopleofallnations
ofthewonderful
ofGod.Godsaidthrough
works
- already
- thathe wouldpourouthis
thedisciples
thiswasmediated
knowledge
andservants
spirituponall flesh,andmenand daughters
wouldprophesy.1
inNewYorkState,intheHudsonRiver
Bornintoslavery
ofUlster,
about
county
inobedience
1797,Isabellatookup herministry
tothePentecostal
imperative
that
haddividedherlifebetween
slavery
andfreedom
sixteen
yearsbefore.
Thepower
in 1827,whenemancipation
herfirst
in NewYork
oftheHolySpirithad struck
andtheattendant
ofPinkster
slaveholiday
hadvirtually
coincided.
State,Pentecost,
a cataclysmic
Isabellaunderwent
andtheHolySpirit,
thepower
religious
experience
remained
a crucial
force
herlife- a sourceofinspirawithin
Pentecost,
throughout
tionanda meansofknowing.
TothewomanwhobecameSojourner
Truth,
knowing
ofbothmaterial
and beingknownwerealways
and epistemological
significance.2
ofAmericanHistoryat Princeton
Nell IrvinPainteris theEdwardsProfessor
University.
She wishesto thankthe
fortheHumanities(grantFA-30715-92),
thestaffs
NationalEndowment
oftheAmericanAntiquarianSocietyand
theSchlesinger
ofRadcliffe
Library
College,ThadiousDavis,JoanHedrick,PatriciaHill,Dona Irvin,MaryKelley,
Nellie McKay,RichardNewman,LydeCullenSizer,ElaineWise,JeanFaganYellin,RonaldZboray,
RayMatthews,
NancyHewitt,David Blight,and David Thelen.
1 Isabella'sname,likethenamesofmanyAfrican
Americans,
changedoverthecourseofherlifetime.
Herfather
was knownas JamesBomefree,but as a slave,Isabellawas knownonlybyherfirstname. Her last employers
in
UlsterCounty,New York,werenamedVan Wagenen,the name she used until 1843; biographers
havegenerally
used thatname. However,reportsin New YorkCityand recordsof the Northampton
Associationof Education
and Industryindicatethatin the mid-1840s,she was knownthereas "Isabel or IsabellaVanwagner,"
"Isabel or
and "Mrs.Sojourner."
IsabellaVanwagnen,"
as wellas "Sojourner"
See vol.5, Accounts,
pp. 245, 251,Northampton
AssociationofEducationand Industry
Records,1836-1853(AmericanAntiquarianSociety,
Worcester,
Mass.);vol.
7, Day Book No. 4, pp. 24, 246, 149, 183, 209, 210,ibid. Acts2:1-18.
2 [OliveGilbertand Frances
Titus],NarrativeofSojournerTruth;A Bondswomanof Olden Times,Emancipated by the New YorkLegislaturein the EarlyPartof the PresentCentury;Witha HistoryofHer Laborsand
Correspondence
Drawn FromHer "BookofLife"(1878; Salem,N.H., 1990), 62-71.
The Journalof AmericanHistory
September1994
461
462
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
1994
September
ofTruthhaveignored,
In thisessay,posingquestionsthatpreviousbiographers
- as selfI willexaminehow SojournerTruthused language spokenand printed
with
and how others,whitewomenwithmoreeducationand facility
fashioning,
herin publishedphrasesthatbecame
the cultureof the printedword,portrayed
passes
the kind of sourcematerialmost congenialto historians.My trajectory
relatedto
and some encounters
systems
information
throughnineteenth-century
of the SojournerTruthpersonaby otherpeople, part of the
the construction
thatwordsalone
greats.I endwiththeobservation
phenomenonthatI callinvented
for
to
and to emembody
she
used
Truth's
photography
not
memory,
do
encompass
powerherself,to presentthe imagesof herselfthatshe wantedremembered.3
biograTruthhastaughtme thatifwearetowritethoughtful
on Sojourner
Working
phies of people who werenot highlyeducatedand who did not leave generous
done
have traditionally
cachesof personalpapersin the archiveswherehistorians
theirwork,we willneed to developmeansof knowingour subjects,and adapt to
word.
known,thatlookbeyondthewritten
oursubjects'waysofmakingthemselves
in 1843,whenSojourner
Truth,thisdaughter
Beginningon thatdayofPentecost
setoutundera newname,shereachedmanysortsofpeople,notstrictly
and servant,
speakingin foreigntongueslikethe disciples,yetusingvariousverbaland visual
variouslanguages,so to speak. Overthe courseof her
meansof communication,
and feminist,
Truth(c. 1797-1883)used speech,
careeras preacher,abolitionist,
to conveyher messageand satisfyhermaterialneeds.
writing,and photography
"SojournerTruth,"whichtranslatesas itinerantpreacher,describedher calling
whichshegainedherlivelithrough
thantheoccupationofhouseholdworker
rather
hood. This hauntingnewname expressedtwoof herthreemain preoccupations:
As a workingwomanwho had
and distrust/credibility.
transitoriness/permanence
to takehermeansofsubsisin
she
never
became
enough
born
wealthy
been
slavery,
tenceforgranted,and so moneyremainedherthirdpreoccupation.
abouttrust.
herapprehension
thename"Truth"expresses
Withnearliteralness,
IsabellaVanWagnerlivedin a worldfullofpeopleanxiousto be believed,including
Countycommune,calledhis
theself-styled
ProphetMatthiasin whoseWestchester
whocalledhimself"the
shelivedfrom1832to 1835.4RobertMatthews,
"kingdom,"
in NewYorkCity
ProphetMatthias"and "theSpiritofTruth"whenhe proselytized
of his holiness.He
in the early1830s,convincedIsabella and her co-religionists
aroundhimin a kingdomthatquicklydisintegrated.
By1835
hisfollowers
gathered
York
and
of
New
west;
by 1842
chased
out
gone
City
had been
Matthews/Matthias
he had died.5The ideal of the spiritof truthlivedon in his follower.
(New York,1977),
withpowercomesfromSusan Sontag,On Photography
3The associationofphotography
4, 9.
4 See KarenHalttunen,
Men and PaintedWomen:A StudyofMiddle-ClassCulturein America,
Confidence
Urban
Mannersin Nineteenth-Century
1830-1870(NewHaven,1982);andJohnF. Kasson,Rudenessand Civility:
America(New York,1990).
5 New YorkJournal
Sept.26, 1834;New York
Sept.26, 1834;New YorkCommercialAdvertiser
ofCommerce,
of Matthias,see Paul E. Johnson
treatment
Courierand Enquirer,Oct. 2, 1834,April17, 1835. Fora full-length
and Sean Wilentz,The Kingdomof Matthias(New York,1994).
Known
Knowing
andBecoming
Truth's
Sojourner
463
When Isabella becameSojournerTruthin 1843,she was not merelyapproprispiritualleader,forshehad other,preexisting
atingthecognomenofhererstwhile
As a girl,she had been beaten
withcredibility.
reasonsforherownpreoccupation
she had foundherworddoubted.
and sexuallyabused,and as an enslavedworker,
jourto persuadea NewYorkfreethinking
In 1835sheovercame
herusualreticence
nalist,GilbertVale,to presentherstoryoftheMatthiasKingdom.In a bookwhose
Vale
ButtheTruth,"
-and Nothing
theWholeTruth
subtitleended "Containing
"the whole truth,""the
"the truth,"
conveyedher desireto present"the Truth,"
In the 1820s, 1830s,and 1840s,when her concernsabout being
wholetruth."6
believedwererecorded,she also wentto courttwiceovermattersof enormous
familialand materialimportance.In 1828,in orderto regaincustodyof herson
Peter,illegallysold intoslaveryin Alabama,she had to convincea judge in Ulster
County,New York,thatshewasherson'smother.Sevenyearslater,in Westchester
County,New York,she sued a coupleforlibel becausetheyhad chargedherwith
poisoning,an accusationruinousto someonewho made herlivingbycookingfor
surelyreinotherpeople.In bothcourtcases,Isabellaprevailed,buttheexperiences
of herword.7
forcedheranxietyoverthe integrity
shewasliableto be doubted
and litigant,
As an abusedchild,oppressedworker,
thesethreekindsof exTakentogether,
in situationsof the utmostseriousness.
herselfthe choiceof her new name. "Truth,"
overdetermined
periencevirtually
and
designation,raisesa hostof questionsrelatedto knowledge,representation,
those
questions
whatI call knowingand beingknown;
regarding
communication,
whichspeaksto anotherset
are the subjectof thisessay.I will leave "Sojourner,"
foranothertime.
of issuesregarding
impermanence,
SojournerTruth'sKnowing
raisesthe
Merelyaskingabout the educationof "SojournerTruth"immediately
ofTruth
biography
ofthiscomplexfigure.Myfull-length
questionoftheidentity
thedisperhapsto exaggerate,
carries
thesubtitle"ALife,A Symbol"to accentuate,
tinctionbetweenthesymbolicfigureSojournerTruth,whostandsforstrongblack
character
Isabella,whowas borna slavein the Hudson
women,and thehistorical
6 G[ilbert]Vale,Fanaticism;Its Sourceand Influence,
Illustratedby the SimpleNarrativeofIsabella in the
Case ofMatthias,Mr and Mrs.B. Folger,Mr Pierson,Mr Mills,Catherine,Isabella,&c. &c. A Replyto W L.
- Containing
Stone,withDescriptive
Portraits
ofAlltheParties,Whileat Sing-Singandat ThirdStreet.
the Whole
Truth-andNothingBut the Truth(New York,1835),Pt. I, 3-6, 63.
7On beatings,see [Gilbertand Titus],Narrative
ofSojournerTruth,26-27, 33. On sexualabuse,see ibid.,
29-31,81-82.The use ofcorporalpunishment
to disciplineslaveshas beenwidelyacknowledged.
On thesale of
Truth's
son,following
a practicethatwasillegalbut nonetheless
common,see ibid.,44-54. Althoughhismother
had thelaw on herside,she was rareamongthepoor and uneducatedin beingable to exerciseherlegalrights.
Forthemostfamouscaseofa New Yorker
kidnappedand sold South,see SolomonNorthup,TwelveYearsa Slave,
ed. Sue EakinandJosephLogsdon(BatonRouge,1968).The slandercasegrewout ofthebreakupoftheMatthias
Kingdom.Benjaminand Ann FolgeraccusedIsabellaofhavingattemptedto poisonthem;she countersued
and
won a $125 settlement.See Vale, Fanaticism,pt. II, 3, 116; and Johnsonand Wilentz,Kingdomof Matthias,
167-68.
464
ofAmerican
History
TheJournal
1994
September
Rivervalleyof New Yorkin about 1797 and who created"SojournerTruth"at a
juncture.8
specifichistorical
fashion,Truthcreateda personathatfilleda need in
In good twentieth-century
Americanpoliticalculture;both the cultureand the need stillexisttoday.The
slaveand emblematicblackfeminist
imageofthematureSojournerTruth,former
The
as theblackwomanin Americanhistory.
worksmetonymically
abolitionist,
whitelady,Truthis appreciated
sturdybinaryoppositeofthedebilitated,artificial
She appearsto be naturaland spontaunsentimental.
as straight
talking,authentic,
she symbolizesa message
neous,and in the besttraditionof famousAmericans,
worthnoting.9Truth'spersonademandsthatwomenwhohad been enslavedand
of "woman"and "the
whosechildrenhad been sold be includedin thecategories
Negro."
Truthis usuallysummedup in a series
As a symbolofraceand gender,Sojourner
ofpublicspeechacts,themostfamousofwhichis "Ar'n'tI a woman?"whichFrances
in Akron,
Dana Gage reportedthatTruthutteredat a woman'srightsconvention
Negro as
Ohio, in 1851.This phraseis sometimesrenderedmoreauthentically
"Ain'tI a woman?"Truthis also knownforbaringherbreastbeforea skepticalaupost-BlackPowereraofthelatetwendiencein Indianain 1858.In thepost-1960s,
tieth century,a fictive,hybridcameo of these two actionspresentsan angry
exhibitsher
SojournerTruth,who snarls,"And ain'tI a woman?"thendefiantly
breastio
The metonymic
SojournerTruthhas knowledge,but no educationbeyondher
in a figurative
ofslavery.
Shewouldseemtohaveacquiredherknowledge
experience
in
enslavement,
whichoccurredin a no-timeand a no-placelocated an abstraction
oftheantebellumSouth,as opposedto theHudsonRivervalleyofNewYork,where
Isabellawas actuallyenslaved.What the symbolof SojournerTruthlearnedonce
ofAmerand forall in slavery
enablesherto analyzeand challengecommonplaces
ican raceand genderthought.Havingbeen a slavefrom1797to 1827,she needs
heropinionsorhermethods.Of itself,
foritcouldnotaffect
no further
instruction,
ormakinguseofit- primedthe
representing,
slavery-notanalyzing,
experiencing
Truthto demand,"Ar'n'tI a woman?"
figurative
of SojournerTruth,theknowledgeshe took
construction
Withinthefigurative
It wouldseem
audiencesdirectly.
seemsto reachlatetwentieth-century
fromslavery
so that
memorypermanently,
enteredhistorical
thatshe spokeand automatically
force.
we stillhearhera centuryand a quarterlaterthroughherownoriginating
She wouldseemto speakto us witha potencythatallowsherwordsto endurejust
as she utteredthem,undistorted,
unmediated,unedited,unchanging.This Sonorwouldshe learntechjournerTruthwouldnot takeadvantageof technology,
8 Nell IrvinPainter,SojournerTruth:
will be publishedin
This biography
A Life,A Symbol(forthcoming).
1995 byW. W. Norton& Co.
9 See JeanFagan Yellin,Wlomen
Feministsin AmericanCulture(New Haven,
and Sisters:The Antislavery
1989), 77-87; and Leo Braudy,The Frenzyof Renown:Fame and Its History(New York,1986), 450-583.
10See Nell IrvinPainter,"SojournerTruthin Lifeand Memory:Writing
ofan AmericanExotic,"
theBiography
Genderand History,2 (Spring1990), 3-16.
Sojourner
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
465
niquesofpublicityfromthepeople aroundher.She wouldnot need to learnany
skillsin orderto makeherselfappealing,forthatwouldhavebeen herbirthright.
Womenwithaccessto printwouldimmediately
haveseenheras memorable,and
theywouldhave recordedhertransparently,
powerlessto shade the imagethatis
now so eagerlyconsumed.Both her knowledgeof the waythingswereand our
knowledgeofherwouldseemto be utterly
naturaland unvarying.
Or so it would
seem.
Unlikethe emblematicSojournerTruth,the historical
figure,whomI am calling
IsabellawhenI speakofherlifebefore1843,had an educationthatbeganin slavery
butdid notend there.Herfirst
teacherwashermother,Elizabeth,whotaughther
to sayone of the twostandardprayers
of Christianity,
the PaterNosteror Lord's
Prayer.(Isabella did not learntheother,the Credoor Apostles'Creed.)Fromher
parentsIsabellaalso learnedherfamily's
oflossthroughtheslavetradethat
history
scatteredchildrenthroughoutthe Northand conveyedthousandsof blackNew
Yorkers
intoperpetualslavery
in the South.She was consciousof beinga survivor
untilshe reachedthe age of ten,whenherturnto be sold came. Her parentsalso
wouldhavetaughtherappropriate
behaviorthroughcorporalpunishment,
and as
a parentshe providedthe same sortof educationby beatingherown children.1"
Itwasnotillegalin NewYorkStatetoteachslavesto readandwritewhenIsabella
wasa child,and fromthelateeighteenth
century
untilslavery
wasabolishedinNew
Yorkin 1827,a fewveryfortunate
slavesmanagedto attendmissionary
schools.The
schools,whichwerelocatedin New YorkCityor othertownssuchas Albany,lay
wellbeyondIsabella'sreach.12
As a ruralpersonand as a girl,Isabellaneverwent
to school.Neitheras a childnor as an adult did she everlearnto read or write.
Afterheremancipation,
severalpeople triedto tutorher,forlikelatetwentiethcenturypeople, educatednineteenth-century
people tookliteracy
as the signifier
of modernity
and saw readingas the bestmeansof acquiringknowledge.13
Then
as now,an inability
to readand writeseemedthesameas ignorance,
althoughoften
thiswas not the case. Withoutdirectaccessto the writtenword,Isabella/Truth
nonetheless
usedreadingalongwithothermeansofgathering
information.
In both
regards,she belongedto long-livedepistemological
traditions
thatstillhavevigor
in today'slargerworlds.Her wayswerethoseof people who are deeplyreligious,
rural,female,poor,or unschooled.All thesecategoriesincludedAmericanswho
11 Isabellamarried
Thomas,a fellowslaveofJohnJ.
Dumont,in about 1814.HerNarrative
providesa fewclues
as to thenatureoftheirrelationship,
thoughit indicatesthatIsabellaleftThomasas soonas shewasfree.Between
about 1815and about 1826,Isabellahad fivechildren,
thenamesand birthdatesofonlyfourofwhomareknown:
Diana, bornc. 1815;Peter,c. 1821;Elizabeth,c. 1825; and Sophia, c. 1826. These datesare fromthe Berenice
BryantLoweCollection(BentleyHistoricalLibrary,
University
of Michigan,Ann Arbor).
12 EdgarJ. McManus,A HistoryofNegroSlavery
in New York(Syracuse,1966), 70, 173.
13 See Carleton
Mabee,SojournerTruth:
Slave,Prophet,
Legend(NewYork,1993),60-66, 217-18;and Carleton
Mabee,"SojournerTruth,Bold Prophet:WhyDid She NeverLearnto Read,"New YorkHistory,69 (Jan. 1988),
55-77. Mabee'sapproachto Truthepistemology
is verydifferent
frommine,in thathe seesliteracy
as thesingle
conduitto knowledge.His definition
of truthis morerigid,forhe does not discussissuesof representation.
466
1994
September
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
werenotautomatic,as thedissimilar
wereblackand/orunfree,butthecorrelations
Douglass and SojournerTruthconfirm.
pursuitsof Frederick
slavesof
Douglassand SojournerTruth,twoformer
Frederick
In themid-1840s,
Association
gotto knoweachotherin theNorthampton
temperament,
contrasting
a utopiancommunity,
Massachusetts,
in Northampton,
ofEducationand Industry
ofsilk.Douglass,who
in
production
in
cooperative
the
that
engaged
founded 1841,
had escapedfromslaveryin Marylandin 1838 and becomea protegeof William
wasteachinghimself,in hiswords,"to speakand actlikea person
LloydGarrison,
of cultivationand refinement"an effortin which he succeeded brilliantly.
and
withenslavement
slaves,associatedilliteracy
Douglass,likemanyotherfugitive
elegance,
stroveto completehis emancipationthroughtheacquisitionoffluencyto be more precise- in readingand writing.Markinghis distancefromTruth,
compoundofwitand wisdom,ofwildenthusiDouglassrecalledheras a "strange
commonsense.She was a genuinespecimenof the uncultured
asm and flint-like
of manners."
[N]egro.She caredverylittleforeleganceof speechor refinement
to acquirethepolishofa moderneducatedman,Truth,
WhileDouglasswastrying
he said, "seemedto feelit herdutyto tripme up in myspeechesand to ridicule
wasthemainmeansDouglassused as he soughtto establishhimself
[me]."Literacy
as a freeperson,but Truthappearedto disdainthe print-basedculturehe was
mastering.She did not need to read in orderto know.14
Acuponherintelligence.
commented
Fromthe 1830suntilherdeath,observers
cordingto GilbertVale,thefreethoughtjournalistwhocameto knowTruthin the
her,not
Naturehas furnished
shehad "a peculiarand markedcharacter.
mid-1830s,
witha beautiful,butwitha strongbodyand mind."He describedheras "notexactly
in
or veryobservantor intelligent
bad lookingbut thereis nothingprepossessing
withher,he foundher to be a womenof
her looks."Afterlong conversations
"shrewd,common sense,energeticmanners .
.
. [who] apparentlydespises artifice,"
but he inserteda caveat:She was"notexactlywhatshe seems."She was quiet and
and
and had her own privateand verywise opinionsabout everything
reflective
she usuallykeptthoseopinionsto herself.In
Everthe keenobserver,
everybody.
noticedherperNewYork,abolitionists
1851,whileshewasstillobscure,Rochester,
a
with
truth,beware
to
game
"If
one
bo-peep
wants play
One warned, any
spicacity.
of Sojourner,"foralthough she seems "simple and artless .
.
. her eye will see your
heartand apprehendyourmotives,almostlike God's." Anotherconcludedthat
hergreatpureheart
was "theshieldto guardherrareintuitions,
Truth'silliteracy
did notsepataint."Obviously,
illiteracy
fromanyworldly
and strongindividuality
rateTruthfromwisdom.15
14 Frederick
Massachusetts.
in HistoryofFlorence,
Association,"
Douglass,"WhatI Foundat theNorthampton
ed. CharlesA. Sheffeld
AssociationofEducationandIndustry,
Includinga CompleteAccountoftheNorthampton
wife,Anna, likeTruth,did not read or write.Theirchildren,however,
(Florence,1895), 131-32.Douglass'sfirst
educated,the daughterin the arts,the sons in the printingtrade.See William S. McFeely,
wereall carefully
Douglass (New York,1991),92, 154, 160-61,239, 248-49, 258.
Frederick
Salem
15 Vale,Fanaticism,
pt. II, 126,pt. I, 61-63; E[lizabeth]A. Lukins,"GeorgeThompsonin Rochester,"
Bugle, May 17, 1851.
[Ohio] Anti-Slavery
Sojourner
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
467
Isabella/Sojourner
Truthemployedthreemainwaysofknowing:
observation
and
practice,divineinspiration,
and, in a specialsenseof theword,reading.In none
wasshe unique. First,as theNew Yorkjournalistrecognizedin the 1830s,she was
a shrewd
observer
ofotherpeople.As a slave,a woman,a blackperson,and a household worker,
Isabellalearnedto decipherotherpeople as a techniqueforsurvival.
Oncecalledwoman'sintuition,
thisabilitytodecodeotherswithoutindicating
what
one perceivesis a sensecultivatedbythe powerlesswho seek to survivetheirencounters
withthepowerful.
Isabellaoccupieda subalternsubjectposition,and she
kepthereyesopen and hermouthclosedunlessshe was in a protectedsituation
or had some pressingmotiveforspeakingout.
Isabellalearnedtheskillssheused as a worker
and a speakerthroughapprenticeas nonreaders
shipandpractice,
havedoneovertheages,and as readersstilldo when
facedwithdifficult
in writing,
maneuvers
thatarehardto convey
suchas techniques
in knitting
orin theuse ofa computer.As a freewomanin New YorkCity,Isabella
workedin the householdsof the same people overmanyyears;thatrecordis testimonyto hercompetencein performing
to a metropolitan
standard.Thesehousehold skillsservedTruthin hersubsequentcareer.Whenshe first
wenton theroad
as a preacherin 1843,sheearnedsubsistence
and respectbycookingdishesa la New
YorkCityforprovincials
on LongIsland.Thisknowledge
provedusefulagainin the
late 1860s,whenshe was employedas the matronat the Freedmen'sVillagein
Washington,
D.C., and taughtfreedwomen
the verysame householdskills.
As a preacher,SojournerTruthlearnedthroughrehearsal.Evenbeforeshe left
the Hudson Rivervalley,her employer's
brotherreportedthatshe workedin the
kitchen"preaching
as shewentand keptpreachingall day."Heremployer
"toldher
she oughtto live somewherein a big place whereshe wouldhave a good many
people to preachto."In the late 1820sand early1830s,she preachedregularly
at
the campmeetingsthatconvenedaroundNew YorkCity,whereshe becamevery
popular.'6Bythetimeshejoinedtheantislavery
feminist
lecturecircuitin thelate
1840s,Sojourner
Truthwasa practiced
publicspeaker.Shehad longsinceconquered
and doubtsaboutthepropriety
ofspeakingin large,mixedgatherings
stagefright
whenshe stoodup to speakto reformers.
Likemanypeoplewhoareveryreligious,
Isabella/Truth
learnedthrough
a second
- the voiceof the Holy Spirit
- a routeto knowledge
channel,divineinspiration
throughfaiththatmanybelievers,
thenand now,prefer
to formaleducation.Pentecostalssuchas Truthprizethevoiceof the Holy Spiritas thepremiermeansof
enlightenment.
and Baptistsroutinely
Methodists
praisea preacher
forhavingspirit
(in thesenseofanimationor soul), and one whodisplaysabundantbook learning
withoutspiritmaybe dismissedas lacking.The experience
ofa figurefromMethodisthistory
who has muchin commonwithSojournerTruthmaybe instructive.
In theearlynineteenth
century,
HarryHosier,a manumitted
slave,wastheservant
and driverof the pioneeringMethodistbishop,FrancisAsbury,in the New York
16 CarlVan Wagenen,memoirand
March8, 1991,quotinga letterofJan. 29, 1884,foundin the
genealogy,
home of BeatriceJordanof St. Remy,N.Y. (in Nell IrvinPainter'spossession).
468
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
1994
September
Called "BlackHarry,'Hosierwasrenownedas a preacher.Aftera fellow
conference.
failedin an attemptto teachhimto read,Hosiersaidthatwhenhe tried
Methodist
to read,he lostthegiftofpreaching.He said: "I singbyfaith,praybyfaith,preach
by faith;withoutfaithin the LordJesusI can do
by faithand do everything
nothing."17
LikeHarryHosier,SojournerTruthsaid thatshe talkedto God, and God talked
to her.Suchmodernscholarsas WalterJ. Ong believe,withHarryHosierand perstillsthevoicesin one'shead thatspeakdihapswithSojournerTruth,thatliteracy
Truthmayhavedistrusted
writing,
as people bredin oralcultures
vineinspiration.
haveoverthe centuries.In Plato'sPhaedrus,Socratestellsthestoryof Thoth,the
memory
Egyptiangod who inventswritingas a meansof improving
second-rank
and wisdomand takesit to the paramountgod, Amon. Amon is not impressed,
as no meansto wisdom,but a recipeforforand he denigrates
Thoth'sinnovation
cannotengagein dialecticand
and ignorance.Socrateswarnsthatwriting
getfulness
or "giveanyadequate accountof
hencelacksthe abilityto defenditselfproperly
portendedonly"the
thetruth."
forSocratesand formanywhocameafter,
Writing,
conceitof wisdominsteadof realwisdom."18
bothas a thirdmeansof
and printing,
Isabella/SojournerTruthdid use writing
withothers.What Truthlearnedfrom
learningand as a wayof communicating
writtentexts,especiallythe Bible,came,not throughthe solitarystudythatacabut in the
demicspractice,not throughseeingwordsand readingthemsilently,
traditional
manner,throughlisteningto someonereadwritingaloud. In hearing
ofreadingand literacy
emphasizethatherway
theBible,Truthstudiedit. Analysts
than
ofusingwriting
overthecourseofhumanhistory
has beenfarmoreprevalent
She wasone ofthemassesofearlynineteenth-century
literatepeople acknowledge.
who believedthatscholarly
indeed,anycomcommentary,
evangelicalProtestants
which
to each
of
the
directly
spoke
the
Bible,
obscured deepermeaning
mentary,
childrento adults as readers,she said, because children
believer.She preferred
whereasadults
withoutinterpretation,
would read the same passagerepeatedly,
tendedto lapse into uselessexplanationwhenaskedto repeata verse.19
In a system
isa morecomplexmatterthanwhen
authorship
ofspokenknowledge,
ofauthorand writer
aredisconnected.
thinker
and scribeareone,forthefunctions
whilethepersonwhowritesdown
The authorofthetextis theknowerand speaker,
in thiswaywhenshedicthewordsis theamanuensis.SojournerTruthusedwriting
in thelate 1840s.Gilbert
to OliveGilbertin Northampton
tatedherautobiography
17 C. W. Christman,
oftheMethodist
Jr.,The OnwardWay:The Storyofthe New YorkAnnual Conference
June 16, 1800-May12, 1949 (Saugerties,1949),
the 150thSessionof the Conference,
Church,Commemorating
79-81.
18 WalterJ.
TheTechnologizing
oftheWord(London,1982),78-116;Plato,Phaedrus
andLiteracy:
Ong, Orality
trans.WalterHamilton(London,1973),96-99. A studyofnineteenth-century
andtheSeventhand EighthLetters,
was oftenofmoresymbolicthanmaterialuse, forit broughtlittleadvantage
blackCanadiansfindsthatliteracy
lifeto people so subjectto racialprejudice.See HarveyGraff,The LiteracyMyth:
or disadvantagein everyday
City(New York,1979), 51-91.
in the Nineteenth-Century
and Social Structure
Literacy
19 RichardD. Brown,
in EarlyAmerica,1700-1865(New
KnowledgeIs Power:TheDiffusionofInformation
York,1989), 125-35, 184-85, 244, 283; [Gilbertand Titus],Narrativeof SojournerTruth,108.
Known
andBecoming
Truth's
Knowing
Sojourner
469
narrative
herownear and bydintofhavingtakendowna third-person
interposed
acquiredcitationas the authorof the Narrativeof SolournerTruth.
thecontrast
betweenOliveGilbert,theeducitationencourages
Bibliographical
untouchedby
cated manipulatorof the pen, and SojournerTruth,the narrator
separatestheirrolestoo neatly.(As Gayatri
literateculture,but sucha dichotomy
Spivakwouldsay,so starka contrastsaturatestheiridentities.)Only
Chakravorty
ignorance
an uncontaminated
Truthcouldpreserve
ofSojourner
figure
thesymbolic
afterhavinglivedaroundeducatedpeoplefordeofthepowerofprintednarration
wasan employeeandcomradeofwealthy
personIsabella/Truth
cades.The historical
and educatedpeople in New YorkCity,the Matthiascommune,and the NorthamptonAssociationin the 1830sand 1840s.Thoughshe mayhavepokedfunat
ofpeople
Douglass,she,likehim,absorbedtheidealsand practices
youngFrederick
and respectcultureofwriting
whoweremorefirmly
implantedinthemetropolitan
in ruralUlsterCounty:
ofherpeersin slavery
ability.One telltalesignis a criticism
Her
wereno longerthanherlittlefinger.
theirthoughts,
she saysin herNarrative,
betrayan acceptanceofthematerial
(to whichI shallreturn)similarly
photographs
cultureof the people withwhomshe lived.20
and asdictatedlettersto friends
Truthoccasionally
In additionto hernarrative,
with
sociates,ofwhichfeware extant.Those thatsurvivedeal withcommodities,
ofhermaterialmeansofsupport:herbooksand photothesellingand distributing
whenshe encountered
graphs.She waslookingto sell and promotehernarrative
twoofthe educatedwhitewomenwhomade herwidelyknownin thenineteenth
centuries:HarrietBeecherStoweand FrancesDana Gage. Their
and twentieth
JacquesLacan aslanguage,whichthe Frenchpsychoanalyst
mediumwas written
ofculstandards
permeatedbymasculine,normative
sociateswitha psychic
system
was keenlysensitiveto women'sdisadvantureand education.21
Gage, especially,
men in Americanpoliticalculture.But comparedwithTruth,she
tagesvis-a-vis
inwhichtheybothfuncnetwork
enormous
powerwithintheinformation
possessed
Truth'sown,
ofTruthfaroutstripped
tioned,and herabilityto shapeperceptions
ofthewritten
word,
at leastthrough
perhaps,in hermanipulation
print.Ironically,
the radicalfeministGage stoodforwhatLacan calls the paternalmetaphor,the
sanctionedauthority
andpower,in relationtoTruth.Truthhad
symbolofculturally
others
educated,and onlythrough
a magneticpersonality,
butshewasnotformally
in writing.
Hencethemeaningsofherpersonaweremore
couldshecommunicate
thanis usualwhena literatepersonmoves
subjectto otherpeople'sinterpretation
20 Gayatri
at theDavis Center
Banal,"paperpresented
Spivak,"Once AgainintothePostcolonial
Chakravorty
possession).SpivakusestheconceptofoverMarch1, 1991(in Painter's
University,
Studies,Princeton
forHistorical
Spivak,"ThreeWomen'sTextsand a Critique
in severalessays,includingGayatriChakravorty
stateddifferences
ed. HenryLouis Gates,Jr.(Chicago,1986), 262-80; and in
in "Race,"Writing,
and Difference,
of Imperialism,"
Spivak,In OtherWorlds:Essaysin CulturalPolitics(New York,1988). [Gilbertand Titus],
GayatriChakravorty
Narrativeof SojournerTruth,24.
in itsusual
but becausein thisessayI use "symbolic"
system,
21Jacques Lacanwritesoftenof the "symbolic"
The contrastbetweenthe "symbolic"and "imaginary"realmsruns
sense,I am avoidingLacan'sterminology.
seeJacquesLacan,TheSeminarofJacquesLacan,bk. I: Freud'sPapers
hiswork.Fora brieftreatment,
throughout
(New York,1988), 208-49, esp. 233-44.
on Technique,ed. JacquesAlain Miller,trans.JohnForrester
470
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
and Truth's
onto the public stage.22The disjuncturebetweenself-representation
representation
at the handsof otherscreatesunexpectedcomplications
fora biographer
trainedas an academichistorian,
forthememory
ofTruthresidesin words
thatdo notrendertheirmeaningstraightforwardly
and in imagesthatwehistorians
arenottrainedto interpret.
Comingto knowSojournerTruthrequiresfamiliarity
withmorethanour everyday
printedwords.
KnowingSojournerTruth
ofSojourner
Thefirst
a historical
Truthis an embarrassthingthatstrikes
biographer
mentin regardto therhetorical
question,"Ar'n'tI a woman?"forwhichshe is famous.A look in volume4 oftheBlackAbolitionists'
Papersshowsthat,although
Truthgavea speechin thefamousvenue,Akron,Ohio, in the famousyear,1851,
thecontemporary
report(appendix1 tothisessay)doesnotincludethecrucialline.
BeforetheBlackAbolitionists'Papers
wenttopress,theeditorand staff
passionately
which
version
of
the
debated
speechto publish.Ultimately,
theyfollowedtheir
regulareditorialpoliciesand publishedthe reportof Truth'sspeechthathad appearedin theSalem[Ohio]Anti-Slavery
BugleinJune1851.According
to C. Peter
Ripley,editorof the BlackAbolitionist
PapersProject,it was "themostcomplete
he adds,thecircumstances
and accurateversion"
oftheevent.Further,
surrounding
the Bugle's report-its contemporaneity,
its author'sfamiliarity
with Truthreinforced
its reliability.23
The second thingthat strikesa biographerseekingto piercethe mystery
of
Truth's1851speechis thatotherdocumentation
is notto be foundwhere
Sojourner
historians
normallylook. This is trueof women'shistoryin general,as Virginia
ofreWoolfnotedin 1929in A Roomof One's Own. Thereshe asks,rhetorically,
searchon women:"Iftruthis notto be foundon theshelvesoftheBritishMuseum,
whereis . . . truth?"24
No, Truthis notin theBritishMuseumorin otherarchives;
hersourcesare mostlyperiodicalreportsofherspeeches,manyofwhichshe gave
toencourage
salesoftheobjectsthatshesoldtosupportherself,
themselves
valuable
sources.These are herNarrativeand photographic
portraits
("shadows")thatshe
controlled.The answerto the questionof how Truthand
paid forand therefore
"Ar'n'tI a woman?"becameidentifiedlies in whatmightbe termedSojourner
Truth'smarketing
technique.
createdand marketedthepersonaof a
SojournerTruth,theitinerant
preacher,
charismatic
womanwhohad beena slave,and itis precisely
throughhermarketing
of herselfor,as she put it, hersellingthe shadowto supporthersubstance,that
hernameis knowntoday.As theprincipalsymbolofstrength
and blacknessin the
ofwomen'sculture,Truthhas been boughtand sold formorethana
iconography
22 Leo Braudypointsout thatthemeaningofanyperformer
is whatheraudienceswantherto mean,for"to
media
and to be partof a storyis to be at the mercyofstorytellers-the
be talkedabout is to be partof a story,
and theiraudience."Braudy,FrenzyofRenown,583, 592.
23 C. PeterRipleyto Nell IrvinPainter,
Oct. 8, 1992(in Painter'spossession).C. PeterRipley,ed., TheBlack
Abolitionist
Papers(5 vols.,Chapel Hill, 1985-1992),IV, 81-83.
24 Virginia
Woolf,A Room of One's Own (1929; San Diego, 1981),26.
Truth's
andBecoming
Known
Sojourner
Knowing
471
She had dozensofcolleaguesamongfeminist
century.
suchas Frances
abolitionists,
Dana Gage, and itinerant
suchas HarrietLivermore,
whosenameshave
preachers,
been almosttotallyforgotten.
Truth'sblackfemalepeers-the abolitionists
Maria
SarahDouglass,SarahRemond,and FrancesEllenWatkinsHarperand the
Stewart,
preachers
- are just
JarenaLee, ZilphaElaw,JuliaFoote,and RebeccaCoxJackson
as obscure.
The difference
is thatTruth,thoughilliterate,
utilizedthe information
systems
ofhertimewithphenomenalsuccess.To recover
hertraces,a biographer
mustconsultherpreferred,
as wellas thebiographer's
visualmediumofphotography,
own,
whichislanguageinprint.WhatisknownofSojourner
Truthinprintcomesmainly
fromthepensoffoureducatedwhitewomen(OliveGilbert,HarrietBeecherStowe,
FrancesDana Gage, and FrancesTitus)who werefascinatedbyTruthand sought
to captureherin writing.
Titus,who wasTruth'sneighborand publicistin Battle
Creek,Michigan,accompaniedTruthon speakingtripsin the 1870sand arranged
forthe republication
of herNarrativein the 1870sand 1880s.ThereTituslisted
herselfas author.25
Titus'sworkhas a place in a comprehensive
analysisof the
makingofthefigureofSojournerTruth,but bythetimeshejoined Truth'senterofSojourner
Truthhad alreadytakenshape.
prise,thepersonaand theepistemology
Narratives
of SojournerTruth
The first
ofTruth's
amanuenseswasOliveGilbert,to whomTruthdictatedherlife
story,
whichTruthpublishedin 1850in Bostonas theNarrative
ofSojournerTruth.
This 128-pagepamphletnarratesIsabella'slifeas a slave,herconversion
in 1827,
her
and
withNew YorkPentecostals
inexperiences
(thencalled Perfectionists),
cludinghertimein thekingdomoftheProphetMatthias.The Narrativeendson
a patheticnote,withTruthdisillusioned
in intentional
byherexperiences
communities:theMatthiasKingdomand theNorthampton
Association.In a toneinnocent
ofbitterness
oranger,sheexpresses
thatherold owner,
satisfaction
JohnJ.Dumont,
has come to see the evilinherentin slavery.
Truthemergesfromthe firstedition
ofherNarrativeas a slightly
piteousfigure,an objectofcharity
whoselifestoryis'
firstand foremost
forsale. That tale is bound to disappointanyoneseekingthe
abolitionistof the 1850sor the dignifiedfigureof the photopowerfulfeminist
graphsfromthe 1860sand 1870s.
When SojournerTruthand Olive Gilbertcollaboratedon the manuscript
that
wouldbecometheNarrative,
bothwereresidentin theNorthampton
Association
of Educationand Industry.
Truthhad arrivedat Northampton
in the late fallof
1843,afterherfirsthalfyearas "SojournerTruth."Olive Gilbertbelongedto the
Associationin 1845 and 1846.26
Northampton
LittleisknownofGilbert:Shewasbornin 1801andwasfromBrooklyn,
Connecticut.Relatively
welleducatedandwellread,Gilbertwasofa utopianand spiritualist
25
26
[Gilbertand Titus],Narrativeof SojournerTruth,xii.
Associationof Educationand IndustryRecords.
Vol. 3, p. 229; vol. 7, pp. 304-27, Northampton
472
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
turnofmind.She spentalmosttwoyearsbetween1846and 1849in DaviessCounty
in northern
Kentucky,
probablyas a governess,
whichinterrupted
herworkwith
Truth.Afterstintsback in her Connecticuthometownat midcentury,
Gilbert
returned
to Leeds,in theNorthampton
environs,
and shestillbelongedto reformmindedcirclesin the early1870s.27
Americans
withantislavery
and feminist
convictions
seemto havebeenunusually
predisposed
topurchaseinformation
inprint.Reflecting
conveyed
thispredilection,
theex-slavenarrative
as a genrecameof age in the 1840s.Slavenarratives
had appearedsince1760,butin the 1840sseveral
-by Frederick
Douglass,WilliamWells
Brown,and HenryBibb- becamebestsellers.The "greatenablingtext"was the
NarrativeoftheLifeofFrederick
Douglass,An AmericanSlave,whichappeared
in 1845and soldforty-five
hundredcopiesin lessthansixmonths.It wasreprinted
sixtimesin fouryears.28
As a publishingphenomenonand as the autobiography
ofa manwhomTruthhad encountered
at theNorthampton
theNarraAssociation,
tiveoftheLifeofFrederick
DouglasswouldhaveinspiredSojourner
Truth.The genesisoftheprojectthatbecametheNarrative
ofSolournerTruthis unclear,butthe
mid-1840swereauspiciousculturally
and technologically.
In theearlynineteenth
century,
withthedeployment
ofnewpapermaking
and
typesetting
technology,
publishingpasseditsfirstgreatdevelopmental
watershed
sincethefifteenth
and changedfroman artto an industry.29
century
Aftertheconjunctionofstereotyping
in the 1840s,each editionofa bookno
and electroplating
longerneeded to be composedentirely
anew.HenryWadsworth
and
Longfellow
JamesFenimoreCooperhad createdthepayingoccupationofAmericanauthorin
the1820s,and therefolloweda smallbutimportant
cohortofwomennovelists
who
theirwriting.
supportedthemselves
through
BythetimeofSojourner
Truth's
collaborationwithOliveGilbert,theAmericanreadingpublicand themarketforbooks
had growntremendously,
yetbooksstillreacheda tinyproportionof Americans.
Evenin papercovers,booksusuallycostbetweenthirty-eight
and sixty-three
cents,
whichrepresented
betweena sixthand morethana halfoftheweeklyearningsof
peoplewhowerepaid wagesfortheirlabor.Slaves,whowerenotpaid fortheirlabor,
lackedtheresources
to purchasebooksand papers,eveniftheyhad brokenthelaws
and learnedto read.
A distribution
networkwas also newlyin place, along whichprintedmedia
movedwithrelative
easeand speed,fortherailroadnetwork
and postalsystem
regularlyservedthe Northampton
Associationwithpickupsand delivery
of mail and
27 International
GenealogicalIndex(microfiche,
9,231fiche,SaltLakeCity,1988); [Gilbertand Titus],NarrativeofSojournerTruth,
276-78. OliveGilbertmaywellhavebeen associatedwithherConnecticut
neighbor,
PrudenceCrandall,wholivedin a nearbytownand wasprosecuted
in 1833-1834forherwillingness
to educateblack
as wellas whitegirls.GeorgeBenson,a founderoftheNorthampton
wasproudofhispartin Crandall's
Association,
defense.
28 WilliamL. Andrews,
To Tella FreeStory:TheFirstCenturyofAfro-American
Autobiography,
1760-1865
(Urbana,1986), 97, 138.
29 HellmutLehmann-Haupt,
TheBook in America:A HistoryoftheMaking,theSelling,and the Collecting
ofBooksin the UnitedStates(New York,1939),63-64; RonaldJ.Zboray,"Antebellum
Readingand theIronies
in Readingin America:Literature
ofTechnological
Innovation,"
and SocialHistory,ed. CathyN. Davidson(Baltimore,1989), 188-89.
Sojourner
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
473
newspapers.
Truthhad accessto theprimary
meansof distribution
of objectsand
information,
packages,lettermail,and newspapers,
thelastofwhichnumberedin
the tensof thousandsnationally.30
AfterGilbertand Truthcompletedtheirworkin 1849,Truth's
Northampton
connectionspaid offagain,thistimethroughhercontactwithWilliamLloydGarrison,
theeditoroftheBoston-based
Liberator.
Garrison's
AmericanAnti-Slavery
Society
had publishedDouglass'snarrative,
and bothGarrisonand Douglass treatedthe
NorthamptonAssociationas a sortof progressive
summercamp. Garrisonhad
family
there,forhe had married
thesisterofGeorgeBenson,one oftheassociation's
founders.
ThroughBensonand Garrison,
TruthcontactedGeorgeBrownYerrinton,
theprinter
oftheLiberator,
a freethinker
whosetiestoprogressive
causesand publicationsdated back to the 1820s. Thus the NorthamptonAssociationnot only
helpedTruthease herself
out ofpreachingand intoantislavery
and woman'srights
it also locatedherprinter.31
advocacy,
Froman otherwise
unknown
JamesBoyle,Truthobtainedthemoneyto haveher
Narrative
BecauseTruthpaid fortheprinting,
cannotbe called
Yerrinton
printed.32
the publisherof her book,thoughhe latersold herthe stereotyped
plates.That
Truthpublishedherself
wasnotunusualat thetime,forthelinebetweenpublisher
and printerwas only becomingestablishedin the 1850s,and the functionsof
printing,
distributing,
and sellingbookswerenotalwaysdistinct.SojournerTruth,
actingas herowndistributor
and bookseller,
waswellwithintheboundsofordinary
practice.
Whatwasunusualwasthebook'sprice,keptlow,perhaps,tofacilitate
purchase.Attwenty-five
centspercopy,her128-page,73/4-by-5-inch,
soft-covered
Narrativerepresented
a bargain.
on
SojournerTruth's
whichis seldomcitedas a sourceofinformation
Narrative,
in
in
slavery NewYorkor general,seemsto havebeen appreciatedbyitspurchasers
moreas an objectthanas a text.Anybookstraddles
the blurry
boundarybetween
textand object,but Truth'sNarrativeis particularly
difficult
to classify.
It is the
ofa womanwhoneitherreadnorwrote,and itwasmadetoprovide
auto/biography
hermaterialsupport.The Narrative
seemsto havebeenlittleread-it wasnotdiscussedas a text,and itmayhaverepresented
lessa textthatconveyed
meaningthan
an artifact,
a commodity.
As a workcomposedto raisemoney,Truth's
Narrativebelongedto a recognizable
subgenreofblackautobiography.33
In thisregard,itresembledthetokensthatrecipients
ofcharity
stilloffer
as do the
to givers.It functioned
littleflagsthatdeaf-mutes
sell in airportsor the book byone'scolleaguethatone
30 MaryKelley,
PrivateWoman,PublicStage:Literary
America(NewYork,
Domesticity
in Nineteenth-Century
1984), 10-11;Zboray,"Antebellum
Reading,"190; Brown,KnowledgeIs Power,218-19,282. See also Raymond
Williams,TheLong Revolution(1961; Harmondsworth,
1965), 186-88.
31 Printers'
file(AmericanAntiquarianSociety).
32 Victoria
NarraOrtiz,SojournerTruth:
A SelfMade Woman(Philadelphia,1974),92. OrtizsaysthatTruth's
tivewentthroughsix editions,but sevenappearin The NationalUnion Catalog,Pre-1956Imprints(754 vols.,
London,1968-), CXCIX, 469.
33 Andrews,
To Tella FreeStory,108.
474
ofAmerican
TheJournal
History
September
1994
buysbutneverreads,havingheardthecolleaguespeakaboutthesubjectforyears.
reformers
wentto hearSojournerTruthpresentherselfas a slave
Well-intentioned
to
to contribute
motherand boughtcopiesofherlittlebook to expresssolidarity,
herwell-being,
and to indicatetheirownrelativepositionand statusin society.As
boughttheproofoftheirsocial
Truthsoldherbeingas a slavewoman,hercustomers
difference
fromher.34
societyin whichpatterns
Althoughtheyhardlybelongedto a postindustrial
among
and feminists,
abolitionists
ofidentity,
of consumption
areseenas markers
nonethelessplaced greatimportanceon how
communities,
otherself-conscious
produceand heldantislave-grown
boycotted
theyspenttheirmoney.Abolitionists
fairsto sellvirtuousobjectsand to raisemoneyforthecause.AsJeanFagan
slavery
and
an iconography
generated
community
antislavery
Yellinhasshown,thefeminist
The conjunction
bea worldofgoodsthatattestedto thevigoroftheirconvictions.
tweenmoneyand moralsworkedto the advantageof SojournerTruth,who emand had somethingto sell.
and antislavery
bodied the linkedcausesof feminism
The NarrativeofSojournerTruthpromiseditsreaderthestoryofone womanwho
about her
thatinformation
assureditspurchaser
had been a slave;it immediately
ownvirtuehad been conveyed.35
sense,
in theliteralas wellas thefigurative
Tendingto theirhabitsofconsuming,
fairsand boycotantislavery
wentbeyondpatronizing
abolitionists
manyfeminist
whattheyate and did notdrinkand
tingslaveproduce.Theirmoralsencompassed
theirpreferred
meansof avoidingand combatingdisease.AbbyFosterKelleyfolbeabolitionists
diet,and otherfeminist
vegetarian
lowedtheGrahamwhole-grain,
cures,
water
taking
and
vegetables,
in
whole
grains
water,
eating
cold
lieved drinking
and pursuingunorthodoxmethodsof healing.In the reformculturein which
herNarrativeforsale in the 1850s,whatone
SojournerTruthmovedand offered
whatone believedorwhatone was.Meaningmightemergefrom
boughtsignified
one'spurchasesas well as fromthe printedpage.
More than a centuryand a quarterafterits publication,the Narrativeof
ofex-slaves.
Although
SojournerTruthstillhas notfounditsnichein theliterature
Truth's
imagesoftenfigureas symbolsofblackwomanhood,sheis neverdiscussed
on enslaved
as a slavenarrator
and heraccountis rarelyquarriedforinformation
blacksin New YorkState. ComparedwithDouglass's threeautobiographies
in populareditionsbeenrepublished
whichhascontinually
thefirst,
particularly
remainedexpensiveand inaccessible.36
Truth'sNarrativeuntilrecently
34 See, forexample,
JeanBaudrillard,
Le systemedes objects:Les essaisCXXXVII(The objectsystem)(Paris,
trans.John
ed. G. Charbonnier,
withClaudeLevi-Strauss,
Conversations
1968),14-16,116-21;ClaudeLevi-Strauss,
and Memory:
Slavery,
Weightman
and DoreenWeightman(London,1969); and Nell IrvinPainter,"Difference,
in TheAbolitionistSisterhood.Women'sPoliticalCulturein AnteSojournerTruthin FeministAbolitionism,"
bellumAmerica,ed. JeanFaganYellinand JohnC. Van Horne(Ithaca,1994), 140-59.
35Yellin,Womenand Sisters,
"'A Good WorkAmongthePeople':The Political
23-26; Lee Chambers-Schiller,
Sisterhood,
ed. Yellinand Van Horne.See MaryDouglas
Fair,"in Abolitionist
CultureoftheBostonAntislavery
and BaronIsherwood,The Worldof Goods (New York,1979), 59-70, 76-84.
36 Thissituation
availablein paperbackthroughOxchange.Truth's1878Narrativeis currently
willpresently
ofOlden Time:Witha History
A Bondswoman
Press:[OliveGilbert],Narrative
fordUniversity
ofSojournerTruth,
Sojourner
Truth's
andBecoming
Known
Knowing
475
Truth'sstrategy
forpublicizingher book and increasingits sales has served
authorsforcenturies.
Likeauthorsthenand now,Truthwenton thelecturecircuit
aftershepublishedherbookin 1850,speakingand sellingcopiesto audienceswho
wereintriguedbyherpersonalappearance.Amongthe meetingsshe attendedto
in Akron.
sell herbook was the 1851woman'srightsconvention
in
Personalappearances
worked
the
market
Truth
well
that
couldreachpersonally,
militatedagainstherwithpeople shecouldnotaddress.To combutherobscurity
municatewitha broaderrangeof potentialbuyers,she needed the endorsement
ofthosebetterknownthanshe.AlthoughGarrison
had introduced
thefirst
edition
ofherbookin 1850,authenticating
herstandingas an ex-slaveand attesting
to the
virtueof thepurchase,in 1853Truthseized the initiative
whenshe realizedthat
a profitable
endorsement
waswithinherreach.Joiningthelegionsofauthorsand
publishers
seekingadvantageous
"puffs"nowcalledblurbs-Truthapproachedthe
authorfora puff,whichshe received.It began:
world'sbest-selling
&
Thefollowing
narrative
maybe relieduponas in all respects
true& faithful,
it is in somepointsmoreremarkable
& interesting
thanmanynarratives
ofthe
kindwhichhaveaboundedin lateyears.
& power
Itisthehistory
ofa mindofnocommon
with
energy
whosestruggles
& ignorance
thedarkness
ofslavery
Thetruths
ofChrishavea peculiar
interest.
& seemtoverify
seemtohavecometoheralmostbya separate
revelation
tianity
ofscripture
"I willbringtheblindbya waythattheyknew
thebeautiful
words
them& crooked
not,I willmakedarkness
lightbefore
things
straight."
Thereis no wayofknowingwhetherStowe'spuffboostedTruth'ssales,but it certainlybegana discursive
relationship
betweenSojournerTruthand HarrietBeecher
Stowethatextendedintothe followingdecade.37
The 1851publicationof UncleTom'sCabin as a serialin GamalielBailey'smoderate, antislavery
Washington
NationalEra had provedwildlysuccessful,
and when
thebookappearedin 1852,it becamea sensationthattransformed
itsauthor'scareer.Stowehad beenwriting
sincethemid-1830s,
but theshockingrevisionofthe
Fugitive
SlaveActin theCompromise
of 1850galvanizedherintowriting
thebook
thatbrokerecords
theworld.The first
throughout
year'ssalesof UncleTom'sCabin
reacheda phenomenalthreehundredthousand,bringingStoweten thousand
dollarsin royalties,
a fortuneat the time.She builtOakholm,a huge Italianatein
Tudormansion Hartford,
tooktripstoEurope,baskedin adoration
Connecticut,
ofHer Labors& Correspondence
DrawnfromHer "Bookof Life"(New York,1991).A new Vintageeditionof
ed., TheNarrative
ofSojournerTruth
theoriginal,128-page,1850workhas appeared:Margaret
Washington,
(New
in 1995.
York,1993). I will republishthe whole 1884 editionwitha fullintroduction
37Fora discussion
thantoday's"blurbing,"
whichis notdone
of"puffing,"
oftena morecommercial
transaction
tothelate 1853edition
formoney,
seeKelley,PrivateWoman,PublicStage,9. Stowe'spuffbecametheintroduction
of TheNarrativeof SojournerTruth.The original,in Stowe'shand, is in thepossessionof Lisa Baskinof Leeds,
Massachusetts,
and is used herewithpermission.
476
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
1994
September
on both sides of the Atlantic,and turnedhertalentsto the defenseof her new
of hernativeNew England.38
friend,LadyByron,and glorification
UncleTom'sCabinmade Stowea highlysought-after
author.Herworkappeared
nationalreliin the Independent,her brotherHenryWardBeecher'sprestigious
butsoonshewrotelessfortheIndependentand morefortheeven
giousnewspaper,
and lesspoliticalAtlanticMonthly,whereshe was paid about
moresophisticated
twohundreddollarsperarticle.In 1863,tenyearsafterSojournerTruthhad come
in 1860and puba shortpiece she had written
solicitinga blurb,Stowereworked
lishedit in theAtlanticMonthlyas "SojournerTruth,the LibyanSibyl."39
thatcould be maintainedonlyby
to a prosperity
Havingadjustedherlife-style
quicklyabouta marketable
a constant
influxofadditionalfunds,Stowewaswriting
-and shewas onlya moderate
subject.40
She had neverbeen a radicalabolitionist
- butin theearly1860smaterial
on theNegrowasvery
advocateofwoman'srights
much in demand. With the EmancipationProclamationand the acceptanceof
blackmen intothe Union army,northern
and magazineswerefullof
newspapers
articleson blacks.Writingto themarket,Stowepresenteda tableauin whichshe
and herfamilyappearedas people of culturewho appreciatedSojournerTruthas
In heruse of thenamesibyl,
a primitive
objet d'artand sourceof entertainment.
Stowe capturedTruth'spropheticside. Above all, however,Stowe emphasized
and otherness,renderingher speech in Negro dialect and
Truth'sAfricanness
in
praisingher naivete.Miningthe veinthathad producedher blackcharacters
UncleTom'sCabin,Stowemade Truthintoa quaintand innocentexoticwho disdained feminism.
StowepresentsTruthas tellingof becominga Methodistin UlsterCountyin
in standardEnabout 1827.The quote,in dialect,is framedbyStowe'scomments,
glish.Stowequotes herselfas asking:"But, Sojourner,had you neverbeen told
aboutJesusChrist?"To whichTruthanswers:
I hadn'theerdnopreachin'beentonomeetin'.
Nobodyhadn'ttold
No,honey.
orsome
hewaslikeGineral
me.I'd kindo' heerdofJesus,
Lafayette,
butthought
o' them.Butonenightthere
inourparts,
an'
meetin'
somewhere
wasa Methodist
I went;an'theygotup an'begunfortotellder'speriences:
an'de fustonebegun
to speak.I started,'causehe told aboutJesus.... An' finallyI said, "Whythey
all knowhim!"I wasso happy!an' thentheysungthishymn.
Stowethenadds, againin contrasting
standardEnglish:"(Here Sojournersang,in
38 Susan Coultrap-McQuin,
in the NineteenthCentury
Business:AmericanWomenWriters
Doing Literary
(Chapel Hill, 1990), 86-90, 94-99.
39 Ibid., 97-98; Harriet
BeecherStowe,"SojournerTruth,theLibyanSibyl,"AtlanticMonthly,11(April1863),
473-81.On Stowe's"LibyanSibyl,"see Painter,"SojournerTruthin Lifeand Memory";and PatriciaHill, "Writing
Gaze,"in DividedHouses: Genderand the CivilWar,ed. Catherine
Out theWar:HarrietBeecherStowe'sAverted
Clintonand Nina Silber(New York,1992), 260-78.
JoanHedrick
40 I am indebtedto Stowe's
JoanHedrick,forthisinformation.
biographer,
mostrecentscholarly
to Painter,Sept. 30, 1989(in Painter'spossession).See JoanHedrick,HarrietBeecherStowe:A Life(New York,
1994).
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
Sojourner
477
crackedvoice,butevidently
withall hersouland might,mispronouncing
a strange,
frombad English
theEnglish,butseemingto deriveas muchelevationand comfort
as fromgood)."AfterquotingTruth's
hymn,"ThereIs a HolyCity,"Stoweexplains
that Truth "sang with the strong barbaric accent of the native
African. .. Sojourner,singingthishymn,seemed to impersonatethe fervorof
Ethiopia,wild,savage,huntedofall nations,but burningafterGod in hertropic
heart."41
In "Sojourner
somecareless,some
Truth,theLibyanSibyl,"Stowemademistakes,
contrived:She wrote,forinstance,thatTruthhad come fromAfrica,and, even
D.C., at thetime,that
thoughTruthwasverymuchaliveand activein Washington,
Stowe
she was dead. (Truthdid not die until 1883.) For all her misstatements,
thatwouldclingtoheruntillatein thenineteenth
providedTruthwiththeidentity
century.
A moreobscurepersonwhowasstillin thethickofthewoman'srightsand antiparticularly
slavery
movements
mightwellbe chagrinedbyStowe'scommercialism,
iftherewasan elementofrivalry.
Stowe'sarticlethusrousedanotherwomanwriter
reform
withfarstronger
FrancesDana Gage, to write.
credentials,
An Ohio radical,FrancesDana Gage (1808-1884)wasknownas a woman'srights
womanwhose writingappeared occasionallyin the Independent.Largelyselfin the 1850s
and agricultural
newspapers
educated,Gage contributed
to feminist
and 1860sunderthepen nameAuntFannyand becamea popularpublicspeaker.
She corresponded
withSusan B. Anthony,
withwhom she touredin
familiarly
Gage was botha sharpcriticof thepatriarchial
1856.42As an antislavery
feminist,
who wrappedhercritiqueof conventional
societyin
familyand a folksycharacter
the commonplaces
of herroleas wifeand motherof eight.Althoughrecognized
as a talentedspeakerandwriter
circles,
withintemperance,
antislavery,
and feminist
Gage nevertook the step up to the AtlanticMonthlyor otherwidelyread,
fashionablemagazines.Throughoutherlifeshe remainedwiththe religiousand
feminist
thosepublishedfortemperpress,and amongherelevenbooksoffiction,
ance organizations
predominate.
Gage wasunusual,thoughnotunique,in focusingherwoman'srightsrhetoric
on working-class
subwomen.Fromthe 1850sthroughthe 1870s,she constantly
womenwho did taxinglabor,suchas
vertedantisuffrage
argumentbydescribing
a womanin ragswho walkedalonga canal in Cincinnatiwith"halfa cartload of
old fence-rails
set intoa big sackthatwas strappedroundherneck. . . halfbent
41 Stowe,
fromthatofMargaret
Washington,
differs
476-77,480. Myanalysis
theLibyanSibyl,"
Truth,
"Sojourner
Margaret
ofSojournerthat[Stowe]advancedwascandidandmemorable."
whosaysthat"theimmediateimpression
The EnduringLegacyof SojournerTruth,"in Narrativeof SojournerTruth,ed.
Washington,"Introduction:
xi.
Washington,
[c. 1856],
42 See PhiladelphiaWoman's
Advocate,Feb. 26, 1856; FrancesDana Gage to Susan B. Anthony,
College,Cambridge,Mass.).
Radcliffe
Library,
Papersof FrancesDana BarkerGage, 1808-1884(Schlesinger
478
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
to theearthwitha burdenthatfewmen could havecarried"and a womanin St.
Louiswho walkedtwomiles"witha childsixmonthsold-a largefatboyon her
leftshoulder,whileon herhead she is holdingsome thirty,
forty,
or fifty
pounds
offlour.She walkswitha firmstep,and carriesherburdenwithapparentease."43
Whenantifeminists
thatequal rightswouldexposewomento theroughprotested
ofeconomicandpoliticalstrife,
and-tumble
Gagepointedtopoorwomenwhowere
in an acutestruggle
forexistence,
as hardas menin thoralreadyimmersed
working
oughlyunpleasantcircumstances
buthandicappedbytheirlackofcivilrightsand
equal pay.
in AkronwhereTruthhad
Gage had chairedthe1851woman'srightsconvention
cometo sell hernewlypublishedNarrative.She did notwritean essaydedicated
toTruthimmediately,
ofTruth's
entirely
butGagerecognizedtheattractiveness
personaand usedheras themodelforan October1851episodeofa seriesshewaspublishinginJaneSwisshelm's
Pittsburgh
SaturdayVisiter.
In "AuntHanna'sQuilt: Or
theRecordoftheWest.'A TaleoftheApple Cellar,"'Gage drewthefictional
word
portraitof a fugitiveslavewhomshe called Winna:
Her
Shewasblack-blackas November
andmuscular.
nightitself-tall,
straight
heryears
woolwassprinkled
withgrey,
thatshowed
andsorrows,
andhercounoncemusthavebeenfine,
tenance
Herfeatures
wasstrikingly
interesting.
andeven
herlanguage
of
wasa mixture
yetbeamedwithmorethanordinary
intelligence;
theAfrican
ofthewhitesamongwhomshelived.
lingoandthemanner
Winna lamentedthatall herchildrenhad been lostto the slavetrade:"I'se had
thirteenof 'em. Theyare all gone-all gone,Miss,I don'tknowwhere'sone [of
them]."44
In 1862and 1863Gage wasin theSouthCarolinaSea Islandsworking
withfreed
forReconstruction,"
people in the"rehearsal
and afterherreturnto theNorth,she
undertook
tourtosolicitsupportforfreedmen's
relief.ReadingStowe's
an interstate
articletwelveyearsafterthemeetingin Akron,Gage maywellhaverealizedthat
she couldproducea moreriveting
and true-to-life
versionofSojournerTruththan
Stowe'squaint littlecharacter.
Lessthana monthaftertheappearanceofStowe's"LibyanSibyl,"Gage published
in theIndependenttheaccountofTruththatwe recognizetoday(it appearshere
as appendix2). Gage quoted SojournerTruthas sayingthatshe had had thirteen
children,all ofwhomhad been sold awayfromher(althoughTruthhad fivechildrenand said so in herNarrative).In thisletterthesefamouslinesappearedfor
thefirst
time:"Andar'n'tI a woman?Lookatme.Lookatmyarm.... I haveplowed
and plantedand gatheredintobarns,and no man could head me-and ar'n'tI a
woman?"45
43 Pittsburgh
SaturdayVisiter,
Nov. 16, 1850; PhiladelphiaWoman'sAdvocate,June21, 1856.
44Pittsburgh SaturdayVisiter,
Oct. 18, 1851.
45
Independent,April23, 1863.
FrancesDana Gage, "SojournerTruth,"
Sojourner
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
479
Stoweand Gage letmanyyearsintervene
betweenmeetingTruthand writing
about
herbyname. But whileStowedrewTruthas a quaint,minstrel-like,
nineteenthcentury
Negro,Gage madeherintoa tough-minded,
feminist
emblembystressing
Truth's
strength
and theclashof conventions
ofraceand genderand byinventing
theriveting
refrain,
"Andar'n'tI a woman?"Duringthemid-nineteenth
century,
Stowe'srendition
ofTruthcapturedAmericanimaginations,
and thephrase"Libyan
Sibyl"wasendlessly
reworked,
evenbyGage,whotermedTruththe"LibyanStatue"
in herletterto theIndependent,
and OliveGilbert,whoin a letterto Truthwritten
in the 1870sspokeof Truthas the "AmericanSibyl."46
Alongwithanotherphrasethathad appearedin Stowe'spiece-Truth'srhetorical
and possiblyapocryphal
questionto Douglass,"Frederick,
is God dead?" versions
ofthe"LibyanSibyl"personified
Truthuntiltheend ofthenineteenth
century.47
As
an expression
ofenduringChristian
faith,shebecametheauthentic
Negrowoman,
thenative,thegeniusofspiritualinspiration
uncorrupted
byformaleducation.Towardthe end of the century,
however,
Gage'sversionof Truthbegan to overtake
Stowe's,as womansuffragists
advancedGage's Truth.
AlthoughFrancesTitushad reprinted
Gage'sletteras wellas Stowe'sarticlein
the 1878 editionof The Narrativeof SolournerTruth,the primarymeans of
popularizing"Andar'n'tI a woman?"wasthepublicationoftheHistoryof Woman
in 1881.48
Suffrage
As forthe antislavery
so forwomansuffrage:
movement,
those
nineteenth-century
Americanswho wereattunedto the powerof the published
record have profoundlyinfluencedsubsequent representations
of the past.
outsidethe mainlinedenominations-whowere
Nineteenth-century
evangelicals
farmorelikelyto hear,comprehend,
and appreciateSojournerTruthin herown
self-definition
as a preacher-werelesssolicitousthanreformers
about preserving
and publishingtheirrecords.Practically
bydefault,thefeminists
and abolitionists,
whopublishedcopiously,
fashioned
thehistoric
Truthintheirownimage,
Sojourner
the one createdbythe feminist
FrancesDana Gage.
Asthewomansuffrage
pioneersSusanB. Anthony
and ElizabethCadyStantonwere
growingold in the late 1870s,theyrecognizeda need to gatherand publishthe
papersofthemovement
theyhad inspiredin 1848and organizedin thesucceeding
thirty
years.Theywrotesurviving
activists
to requestdocuments,
whichtheycombinedwithnewspaperreportsand publishedin threevolumesbetween1881and
1886.Stantonwaslivingin Tenafly,
in northern
NewJersey,
as shecarriedoutmost
ofthework;AnthonycamefromRochester,
New York,fromtimeto timeto visit
46 Ibid.;
Olive Gilbertto SojournerTruth,Jan. 17, 1870, [c. 1870], in [Gilbertand Titus],Narrativeof
SolournerTruth,276-78.
47 The "Frederick,
is God dead?" anecdoteappearsin HarrietBeecherStowe,"The President's
Message,"Independent,Dec. 20, 1860. On it, see Mabee, SolournerTruth,83-84.
48Elizabeth
Cady Stanton,Susan B. Anthony,
and MatildaJoslyn
Gage,Historyof WomanSuffrage
(3 vols.,
New York,1881-1886),1, 110-13.
480
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
and assist.Gage, who in the yearssince 1851had movedfromMcConnellsville,
Ohio, to St. Louis,was thenlivingin Vineland,in southernNewJersey,
a center
oftemperance
and woman'srightsenthusiasm.
Havingcorresponded
withAnthony
and Stantonsincethe 1850s,Gage wouldhavewelcomeda requestto contribute
materialfortheHistoryofWomanSuffrage.
In 1879shewrotethatshewaslooking
overherold papersand manuscripts.49
The feminist
pressofthe 1880stestifies
to Gage'senduringreputation
as an ardent feminist.Althoughin wretchedhealth, she continuedto contributeto
women'snewspapers.
AfterSojournerTruth'sdeathin 1883,the BostonWoman's
Journalreprinted
Akronspeech.Throughletters
tofeminist
Gage'sreportofTruth's
gatheringsand publishedutterances,Gage spoke for temperanceand woman
suffrage
rightup to herdeathin 1884.50Stowe,in contrast,
had turnedawayfrom
reform
entirely.
Fromthe early1860sthroughthe mid-1880sshe was stillwriting
a booka year,butshedid notreturn
to politicalthemes.In herold age Stowelived
in Floridaand becameincreasingly
childlike,
and herwriting
wasoflocalcolorand
quaintNew Englandcharacters.
By the end of the century,
Gage's Truthwas doing feminist
workforwoman
in turn-of-the-century
all aroundthecountry,
fashion.
suffragists
thoughsometimes
A Memphissuffragist
whoimaginedTruthas an "old negromammy"nevertheless
quotedGage'sreportofthe1851speechas a stickwithwhichto beatantisuffragists,
in thisinstance,theReverend
ThomasDixon.5'No longerthesymbolofChristian
trust,the uncorrupted
Negro,or Africangenius,Truthwas nowthe embodiment
ofwomen'sstrength
ofTruth,written
thatGage had crafted.Stowe's1863portrait
thanherfeminism,
authorwhosereligioussensibility
wasstronger
bya best-selling
expressedVictoriansentimentality.
Gage's 1863 portraitof Truth,writtenby a
womanwhoseradicalism
had keptherat thefarmarginsofAmericanlettersduring
herlifetime,
has worn- and sold-well duringthe twentieth
century.
Invention and History
It mayseemironicthatSojournerTruthis knownforwordsshe did not say,but
Americanhistoryis fullof symbolsthatdo theirworkwithouta basisin life.As
a blackand feminist
talismanratherthana text,SojournerTruthis stillselling.She
remainsmoresignthanlivedexistence,
likeBetsyRoss,ChiefSeattle,and Mason
fordeeds
who are also bestremembered
("Parson")Weems'sGeorgeWashington,
not
not
Like
did
and
words
did
utter.
other
invented
they
perform
they
greats,Truth
is consumedas a signifier
and belovedforwhatwe need herto havesaid. It is no
49 MatildaJoslyn
Gage (no relationtoFrancesDana Gage) aidedElizabethCadyStantonand SusanB. Anthony
Threelatervolumes,editedbyIda HustedHarper,tookthe story
in preparingtheHistoryof WomanSuffrage.
Journal,
up to thepassageof theNineteenthAmendmentgivingwomenthevotenationwide.BostonWoman's
In Her Own Right:The Lifeof ElizabethCady Stanton(New York,1984),
Aug. 30, 1879; ElizabethGriffith,
RadofWomen'sRights,1880-1940,"
Historians
176-83;EllenCarolDuBois, "MakingWomen'sHistory:Activist
ical HistoryReview,49 (Winter1991),61-84.
50 Boston Woman's
Journal,Dec. 1, 1883,Nov. 15, Dec. 27, 1884.
51 Folder1, Lide Parker
Library).
Papers(Schlesinger
(Smith)Meriwether
Truth's
Sojourner
andBecoming
Knowing
Known
481
accidentthatotherpeople writing
wellafterthefactmade up whatwe see as most
meaningfulabout each of thosegreats.
ParsonWeems,who was,incidentally,
a book distributor,
inventedthe storyof
youngGeorgeWashington's
choppingdowna cherry
treeand beingunableto tell
a lie about his deed. The storyplayed a major role in Weems'sbiographyof
whichwas,ofcourse,forsale. It is perhapsnotso wellknownthatthe
Washington,
legendof BetsyRoss,the womancelebratedforsewingthe firstAmericanflag,is
also fiction.ElizabethGriscomRossAshburnClaypoolewasa seamstress
wholived
in PhiladelphiawhentheDeclarationofIndependencewasbeingdrafted,buther
tale is theinvention
ofhergrandson,WilliamCanby,whomade it all up in 1870.
Duringthemid-1770sthehousethatthecityofPhiladelphiahas designateda historicalplace,wheretheBetsyRossdollisforsalefor$19.95,wasa tavern.The bones
in her graveare unidentified.Canby'sBetsyRossfillsthe need fora Founding
Motheramongtheparadeofmen whopersonify
the birthoftheUnitedStatesof
America.52
The practiceofinventing
greatpeopleendures,as in thelegendofBrother
Eagle,
SisterSky,a best-selling
volumesaidto be an 1854speechbywiseold ChiefSeattle,
a NativeAmericanand environmental
prophet.This book,whichthe EarthDay
U.S.A. Committeesendsout as a fundraiser,is thecreationofa screenwriter
from
TexasnamedTed Perry.He wrotethetextin 1971and is horrified
thatit has been
to ChiefSeattle.As in thecase ofSojournerTruth's"Ar'n'tI a woman?"
attributed
and BetsyRoss'sAmericanflag,whatmakesChiefSeattle'sspeechworkin American
culturehas littleto do withthe historical
person.53
TodayAmericanswho loveSojournerTruthcherishherforwhattheyneed her
to have said and buyherimagesto investin the idea of strongwomen,whether
ornottheyareblack.As in thenineteenth
Americans
consumeSojourner
century,
Truthas theembodiment
ofa meaningnecessary
fortheirownculturalformations,
eventhoughthatmeaninghas changedradicallysinceHarrietBeecherStowefirst
presented
it.The market
forhistorical
and
symbolsis notlimitedto words,however,
SojournerTruthimages, now distributedmostlythroughoutletscateringto
This is as it was in the mid-nineteenth
feminists,
have also sold briskly.
century.
As a personwhosedepictionin printdependedupon the imaginationofother
Truthwasable toinfluence
thoserepresentations
people,Sojourner
onlymarginally.
Althoughshe neverdistancedherselffromthe textsthroughwhichGilbertand
Gage portrayed
her,she attemptedto correctStowe'sarticlewithinthreemonths
in a letterto theBostonCommonwealth
ofitspublication,protesting
thatshewas
not Africanand thatshe nevercalledpeople "Honey."She sentthe editor,James
thathercorrect
wasto be
Redpath,sixcopiesof herNarrative,
suggesting
history
for
foundbetweenitscovers.She also askedreadersto purchaseherphotograph,
52 Barry
TheMakingofanAmericanSymbol(Ithaca,1987); WallStreetJournal,
GeorgeWashington:
Schwartz,
June12, 1992,p. 1.
53New YorkTimes,April21, 1992,p. 1. See ChiefSeattle,Brother
Eagle,SisterSky:A MessagefromChief
Seattle(New York,1991).
History
ofAmerican
TheJournal
482
1994
September
to herhomein BattleCreek,Michigan."I am,"
shewasin ill healthand restricted
languageto womenwho
As thoughsurrendering
shesaid,"livingon myshadow."54
ofwriting
and publishing,shesoughtselfwereinitiatedintotheesotericpractices
eventhe highlyeducated,rein a mediumthatmanyAmericans,
representation
camefromthe Greekwordsmeaning
and whoseetymology
gardedas transparent
"lightwriting":photography.
Truthin Photography
in 1863,SojournerTruth
Afterthe Stoweand Gage essaysincreasedhervisibility
in the rageforthe
money
and raising
founda newmeansof reachingsupporters
newcartesde visitefromFrance.Between1863 and about 1875,SojournerTruth
carte
made ofherselfin twoformats,
portraits
had at leastfourteenphotographic
/2 inches),in at leastseven
de visite(4-by-21/2
inches)and cabinetcard(6/2-by-4
and the
In the 1860sand 1870s,Truthstockedcopiesofthesephotographs
sittings.
she made perNarrativeofSolournerTruthto sellthroughthemail and wherever
sonalappearances.Whiledonationsofanysizewerewelcome,Truthseemsto have
askedabout $.33 foreach cartede visiteand $.50 forthe largercabinetcards,in
and publisherschargedin theearly1860s,
linewiththepricesthatphotographers
$2.00 to $3.00 per dozen.55
was inventedin 1839.
spreadas soon as photography
portraiture
Photographic
in the 1840s,and Douglassand Gage
commonplace
madeportraits
Daguerreotypes
-the 1851inlikenesses.
Twosubsequentdevelopments
bothsatfordaguerreotype
it
to print
which
made
possible
negativetechnology,
ventionofcollodionwet-plate
numberofprintsfroma singlenegative,and the 1854patentingof
an indefinite
Cartes
photography.
themultilenscamera-ushered in theera ofpopularportrait
ofAndreAdolpheEugeneDisderiofParisin themid-1850s,
de visite,theinvention
weremade witha camerawithfour,six,eight,or twelvelensesexposingdifferent
several
portionsof a singlelargeplate. If the lenseswereopened simultaneously,
smallphotosof the same pose wereproduced.If the lenseswereopened sequenthesittercouldadjustherposefromone exposureto another.Once thenegatially,
tivewas developed,the photoswould be mountedand cut apart,and the four,
thesizeofa visiting
cardwouldbe cheap,havingbeen
eight,ormorephotographs
developedand printedall at once. Becausecartesde visitewereso small,theydid
or detail,but theybecamethe mostpopularform
not permitmuchbackground
cartesde visitebegantomakephotointheearly1860s.In theirubiquity,
ofportrait
as familiarand acceptedas theprinted
graphicimagesa meansofcommunication
word.56
54
July3, 1863.
BostonCommonwealth,
"LetterfromSojournerTruth,"
55KathleenCollins,"Shadowand Substance:SojournerTruth,"
7 (July-Sept.1983),
HistoryofPhotography,
1981),
(Gettysburg,
Photography
183-205,esp. 199;WilliamC. Darrah,Cartesde Visitein NineteenthCentury
19. The cartede visiteappearedin the UnitedStatesin 1860 and quicklygainedenormouspopularity.
56 The Frederick
(8 x 6.9 c.), c. 1847, is held by the National PortraitGallery,
Douglass daguerreotype
The FrancesDana Gage daguerreotype,
4 (July1980),frontispiece.
D.C. See HistoryofPhotography,
Washington,
Truth's
andBecoming
Sojourner
Knowing
Known
483
Duringthe CivilWar,cartesde visitefilleda multitudeofpurposes.Cartesde
visiteofgreatmenweresold as inspiration
to themasses;authors(suchas Stowe),
politicians(suchas AbrahamLincoln,whose1860cartebyMathewBradywasa campaigntoken),actors,and lecturers
(suchas Gage) carriedthemaboutand soldthem
at personalappearancesand throughotheroutletsas handyformsofpublicity,
like
baseballcards.MoretothepointforSojourner
twentieth-century
Truth,somecirculated withinthe Union as anti-Confederate
propaganda- images of starved
prisonersof war fromthe Confederateprisonat Andersonville,
Georgia,the
slavevolunteerGordon,and white-looking
children
scourgedbackofthe fugitive
whosewhiteness
These fund-raising
had not protectedthemfromenslavement.57
cartesmaywellhaveinspiredTruth,forherportraits
wouldalso haveservedto remindpurchasers
thatshe symbolizedthe womanwho had been a slave.
Had Truth's
cartesde visiteservedonlyas abolitionist
fundraising,Truthmight
havechosento pose in settings
or costumesthatevokedthetragedy
ofherorigins.
LikeGordonofthewhip-scarred
back,shemighthaveprominently
exhibitedsome
or toil,suchas herrighthand, injuredduringherlast yearin
imageof suffering
Or shemighthavecirculated
theonlyimageofSojournerTruthotherthan
slavery.
herphotographs
(or engravings
made fromthem),a sketchmade ofherin Northampton,probablyin the 1860s.In thisdrawing,she is doing laundry,herarms
plungeddeep intowashwater.Thatwasnotthekindofimagein herphotographs,
and she did the choosing.58
The portrait
below,one ofherfavorites,
wastakenin Detroitin 1864.Thiscarte
de visiteis in thevernacular
stylethatbecamewidespreadin the 1850s,as daguerreotypesgrewmorepopularthanpaintedportraits
withelaboratebackdrops.This
photoshowsno landscapeor interior,
and theprops-knitting, a book,and a vase
fullof flowers
on a table-are simplified
intotokensof leisureand femininegentility.As in all of the otherphotographsof SojournerTruth,she wearsexpertly
tailoredclothingmade ofhandsome,substantial
material,theblackand whiteshe
favoredforpublicspeaking.In severalportraits
she is dressedin the Quaker-style
and antislavery
clothingthatfeminist
lecturers
woreto distinguish
from
themselves
showilydressedactresses,
who werenot respectablefigures.Her hairis wrapped
plainly,but notin the madrashandkerchief
thatHarrietBeecherStowecharacterized as in the"mannerofherrace."59
In otherphotographs,
Truthwearsfashionable
clothing,again verywell tailored,and she presentsthe image of a respectable,
undated,is in the possessionofJerryBarkerDevol, Devola, Ohio. AndreRouille,"The Rise of Photography
ed. Jean-ClaudeLemagnyand Andre
Social and CulturalPerspectives,
(1851-70),"in A HistoryofPhotography:
PhotogRouille,trans.JanetLloyd(Cambridge,Eng., 1987),40; Darrah,Cartesde Visitein NineteenthCentury
raphy,1-2, 10-12,19, 24.
57 See KathleenCollins,"The Scourged
9 (Jan.-March
1985),43-45; Kathleen
Back,"HistoryofPhotography,
FundofSlaveChildren,"
ibid.(July-Sept.1985),187-210;andKathleenCollins,"Photographic
Collins,"Portraits
ibid., 11 (July-Sept.1987), 173-87.
raising:CivilWarPhilanthropy,"
58 The drawing
is byCharlesC. Burleigh,
Jr.,whowasa childin thelate 1840s,afterthebreakupoftheNorthHe probably
whenSojournerTruthstilllivedin Northampton.
amptonAssociationofEducationand Industry,
inspiredbyStowe's"SojournerTruth,theLibyanSibyl."CharlesC. Burleigh,
drewfrommemoryand imagination,
Mass.).
Northampton,
Jr.,SojournerTruth,[1860s],drawing(HistoricNorthampton,
59 Stowe,"SojournerTruth,the LibyanSibyl,"473.
484
TheJournalof AmericanHistory
September1994
*~~~~~~~"be
y
"I Sell the Shadowto Supportthe Substance. SOJOURNER TRUTH:' Cartede visite,1864.
CourtesyBentley Historical Library,Universityof Michgan.
Sojourner
Truth's
Knowing
andBecoming
Known
485
middle-class
matronbut,perhaps,also thatofa womanadvertising
hersuitability
as a model of civilizedcomportment
forthe freedwomen
refugeesin Washington,D.C.
in a studio(in otherportraits,
She is sitting
also takenin studios,shestandswith
a cane or sitsholdinga book or portrait),
withknitting
in herhandsand a book
on thetable.Truthknitted,but thisyarn,held in onlyone hand,conveys
mainly
themotherliness
thatwascentralto herself-fashioning.
Accordingto the conventionsofthe genreof celebrity
she lookspast thecamera,whichlends
portraiture,
an airofweighty
seriousness.60
Her postureis relaxedbutupright,communicating
an impression
of easycomposure.Fora womanof at leastsixty-five,
she looksremarkably
young,buttherelative
ofherappearancetakesnothingfrom
youthfulness
theoverallgravity
ofthepersona.She is matureand intelligent,
notreading,but
wearingeyeglasses
thatmighthavehelpedherknitand thatcertainly,
likethebook
on thetable,gaveheran educatedair.In noneoftheseportraits
is thereanything
beyondblacknessthatwouldinspirecharity,
nothingofthe piteousslavemother,
chest-baring
insolent,grinningminstrel,
or amusingnaif.
The originalcaption,"I Sell the Shadowto SupporttheSubstance.SOJOURNER
TRUTH," explainsthe photograph's
fund-raising
functionand is as mucha partof
therhetoric
of theimageas theportrait
itself.That captionrarelyappearsin late
twentieth-century
representations,
althoughtheimageis forsale todayfromseveral
feminist
mail-order
houses.SojournerTruthphotographs
stillbeara caption;however,sentencesfromGage's "Ar'n'tI a woman?"reportreplace"I sell the shadow
to supportthesubstance,"
becausethemarkethas changed,in itstastesand in its
relationto Truthherself.Currentconsumers
purchaseimagesofTruthto embody
not
strength, dependence,no matterhow dignifieditscomposition.Moreto the
point,it is no longerpossibleto contribute
to Truththroughpurchaseofherbook
orcartede visite."I selltheshadowto supportthesubstance"exhorteditsoriginal
purchasers
and todayremainsauthentic,but in today'scontext,withTruthlong
dead and withoutheirswho claimherestate,it meansverylittle.61
Likelegionsofothercartesde visite,Sojourner
Truth's
showa solidbourportraits
The imagedoesnotcapturethewomanwhobelonged
geoise,eventotheeyeglasses.
to theweirdMatthiasKingdomin the 1830sorwhoreportedly
rolledup hersleeve
tobareherarmortookdownherbodicetoshowherbreastin the1850s.The woman
sittingheredoes not look as thoughshe wouldspeak in dialect,and hersis the
of a nakedbody.Blackness,of course,conveyeditsownmessages.
antithesis
AfricanAmericanshad theirphotographs
Althoughprosperous
takenfortheir
ownuse, bourgeoisportraiture
wasas uncommonas bourgeoisblacks.In the 1860s
imagesofblackpeoplewererare,and mostofthemhad notbeentakenat theinsti60 SusanSontagspeaksof thethree-quarters
gaze as conveying
an "ennoblingabstractrelationto thefuture."
Sontag,On Photography,
38.
61 On captionsand viewers,
seeVictory
Burgin,"Lookingat Photographs,"
in Thinking
Photography,
ed. Victor
Burgin(Houdmills,1982), 144-46. The HistoricalSocietyofBattleCreek,Michigan,sellsSojournerTruthpostcardsto raisefunds.Thesephotographs
retaintheoriginalcaption,butbelow"SOJOURNER TRUTH" theyadd "HistoricalSocietyof BattleCreek,Michigan."
486
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
ofblackmenweremostoftenfoundin thefiles
gationofthesubjects.Photographs
ofcitypolice,wherephotography
had takenitsplace as a tool oflaw enforcement
twodecadesearlier.62
Anothergenreofphotography
also tookpeople ofcoloras itssubjectmatter:the
thatdisplayed"types"ofnativepeoplesto
anthropological
specimenphotographs
In anthropological
usueducatedmetropolitans.
photographs,
captiveindividuals,
allystrippedoftheirclothingand staringstraight
intothecamera,weredisplayed
as examplesof otherness,like insectspinned in cases or stuffedmammalsin
museums.Britishand Frenchexplorers
specializedin thisgenreofnaturalhistory
photography,
buttheAmericanbiologistLouisAgassizhad specimenphotographs
of enslavedAfricanAmericanstakenin the 1850s.63SojournerTruth'sposture,
herfromthecriminals
clothing,and stancedistinguish
or nativetypeswhoshared
hercolor,forsheis wellgroomed,wellclothed,and posedso as notto lookdirectly
into the camera'slens. Nevertheless,
the same underlying
assumptionmayhave
madeall threesortsofphotographs
serviceable:
thewidespreadnineteenth-century
beliefthatthe cameracapturedreality.
HenryDavid Thoreau,Ralph Waldo Emerson,and OliverWendellHolmes,
amongothers(perhapsincludingSojournerTruth),thoughtthatthe photograph
of facts.""The transwas,in Thoreau'swords,"an exactand accuratedescription
ofphotography
characteristic
wouldseem
parencythatmanysawas theidentifying
to allowan unmediatedviewofthesubject,and thatcharacteristic
mayhavemade
all themoreattractive
to SojournerTruth.Butwhiletheorists
ofphophotography
hailedit as reality,
wasthoroughly
tography
portrait
photography
commercialized;
wereitsstock-in-trade.
The posesweremeant
setposesand formulaic
presentations
to conveytwo different
and ultimatelyincompatiblemessages;the metonymic,
socialstanding,and theindividual,
throughwhichthesitterstoodforrespectable
throughwhichthe imagerevealedthe sitter'sunique innercharacter.
Evenas hercartesde visiteportrayed
Sojourner
Truth- thewomanwhohad been
a slave,thesubjectoftheNarrative
theadvocateofblackemanofSojournerTruth,
- theyalso appealedto thepreconditioned
cipationand woman'srights
sightofher
clientele,whichtransformed
thepalm-sizedimageofa womanin a studiointothe
simulacrum
of a well-dressed
Victorianin a tastefulparlor.These inherently
discrepantmeanings,likethetonguesin whichJesus'disciplesspoketo thepeople of
manynationswhenthe Holy Spiritfilledthem,weresubjectto reinterpretation.
Photography
maybe writingwithlight,but likewritingwithwords,it is a sign
of representation.65
systemand has its ownrhetorics
SojournerTruthwas seizing
in On theArtof Fixinga Shadow: One Hundredand FiftyYearsof
Photography,"
Snyder,"Inventing
62Joel
ed. SarahGreenoughet al. (Washington,1989).
Photography,
63 Allan Sekula,"The Bodyand theArchive,"
in The ContestofMeaning:CriticalHistoriesofPhotography,
ReadingAmericanPhotographs:
ed. RichardBolton (Cambridge,Mass., 1989), 343-46; Alan Trachtenberg,
Imagesas History:MathewBradyto WalkerEvans(New York,1989), 53-54.
in Photography
in Nineteenth-Century
The Emergenceof a Keyword,"
"Photography:
"Alan Trachtenberg,
America,ed. MarthaA. Sandweiss(FortWorth,1991),22.
65 AndreRouilleand BernardMarbot,Le corpset son image:Photographies
siecle(The body
du dix-neuvieme
Reading
century)(LaRochelle,1986), 13-19,30; Trachtenberg,
fromthe nineteenth
and itsimage:Photographs
andBecoming
Known
Truth's
Sojourner
Knowing
487
controlofherreplicas:shapingthemeaningoftheimagesthatshesoldbydeciding
to adopt,which
taken,whatto wear,whatexpression
whento haveherphotograph
adto patronizeswhileherphotographer
propsto hold, and whichphotographer
focus,and distance.Because she sold her cartesde visiteto
justed the framing,
that
shestillexercises
werelikelyto endup in repositories,
peoplewhosepossessions
control.
of
representations
are not transparent
portraits
SojournerTruth'sphotographic
herauthenticbeing,nordo theyconveya simpletruth.In hercartesde visite,as
in otherphotographs,
thesenseofrealityis enigmatic.As one criticnotes,photoIf thereis no unmediated
to meaning."66
graphicimagesare a place of "resistance
some
nonetheless
herwithcertainty,
no meansofknowing
accessto Sojourner
Truth,
conclusionscan be drawnabout how she wantedto be known.
bypopularcultureto
SojournerTruthwas willingto use the resourcesoffered
forhermaterialsupport,and she
ofherself
representations
replicateand distribute
Isabellawas destitutewhenshe
did need the money.A slaveuntilshe was thirty,
enteredlifeas a freewomanin 1827.She workedat ill-paidhouseholdlaborin New
YorkCityuntilshe becameSojournerTruthin 1843.Yetafterthe 1850publication
in 1850,a house
she managedto buya house in Northampton
of herNarrative,
in Harmonia,Michigan,in 1856,and a house in BattleCreek,Michigan,in the
1860s,in whichshe died in 1883.Withtheexceptionof $390 thattheFreedmen's
afterthe CivilWar,hermeansof
Bureaupaid herforreliefworkin Washington
of
her
the
bookand her"shadows"and donasupportweretheproceedsfrom sale
thepoverty
Considering
audiencesand supporters.
tionsfromherreform-minded
in whichmasses of freedpeople and workingwomen remainedin the midherpersona- as embodiedin theseobjects- provedremuneracentury,
nineteenth
herhusbandhad died in an UlsterCounty,New York,poorhouse
tive.Bycontrast,
beforethe CivilWar,and herdaughtersdied destitutein BattleCreekin thelate
centuries.Theylackedmarketable
personasand a
nineteenth
and earlytwentieth
withwhichto memorializethem.
supplyof commodities
the
century
As thoughfilledwiththeHolySpirit,but adaptingto thenineteenth
as a means
disciples'speakingin tongues,SojournerTruthemployedphotographs
the
withoutwriting.Cartesde visitemightseem to circumvent
to communicate
in
is
that
embedded
language,
wholesystem
oflearnedcultureand racialstereotype
Her images,apparentlyunmediated,
so as to allow her to reachothersdirectly.
the essenceofherrealself.
thatcommunicated
seemedto be truthful
replications
in AmericanCulture,
28, 40; MilesOrvell,TheReal Thing:Imitationand Authenticity
AmericanPhotographs,
21-22;JohnX. Bergerand Oliver
Photography,"
"Inventing
1880-1940(Chapel Hill, 1989),77-78, 88-89; Snyder,
1989),n.p.
(Manchester,
Photography
Richon,eds., OtherthanItself Writing
ofa gaze, 1839-1918)(Paris,1989),
66 Francoise
Heilbrun,Linventiondun regard(1839-1918)(The invention
ed. Alan
oftheImage,"in ClassicEssayson Photography,
16.Forthequotedphrase,see RolandBarthes,"Rhetoric
witha fringe
are "surrounded
(New Haven, 1980), 269. SigfriedKracaueradds thatphotographs
Trachtenberg
ibid., 265.
multiplemeanings."See SigfriedKracauer,"Photography,"
of indistinct
488
TheJournal
ofAmerican
History
September
1994
thatshe arrangedand paid for,SojournerTruthembodiedherself
In photographs
forherbiforherself,
but not in words,whichwouldhavebeen moreconvenient
madeherownventure
ographer.
As in the 1840s,whendemandforslavenarratives
to do herwork
Truthseizedupon newtechnology
intothatproductlineprofitable,
of self-representation.
ofothersand whoremembered
As a womanwhosepersonhad beentheproperty
herportraits
as herown
beingdespisedand abused,Truthmaywellhavecherished
ofherhavingdeservedtheabuse thatshe had
literalembodiment:as a refutation
trappedwithin.Imageslike
visibleof the spiritotherwise
received,as a rendering
and antiherswerelargelymissingfromAmericanculture,evenfromthefeminist
Throughherimages,createdbymodernmeans,Truthearned
slavery
subcultures.
money,ensuredher physicalsurvival,and, more,insertedherselfinto historical
memory.67
SojournerTruthsoldtheshadowto supportthesubstancewhenthesuband whenthesubstancewasherplace in hisstancewasherownbodilysubsistence
tory.She appropriatedthe powerof the Americangaze and used it in her own
mimesis.
in broadcurrents
ofAmericancultraveled
Truth's
widelycirculated
photographs
image,cartesde visitesuchas hersconture,forbypopularizingthephotographic
into directly
of experience,easing individuality
tributedto the simplification
century
thisprocessmade SojournerTruth=
In thenineteenth
graspedsymbol.68
itmade Sojourner
century,
"theLibyanSibyl"= blackexotic,and in thetwentieth
Truth= "Ar'n'tI a woman?"= strong(black)woman.In exchangeforhandysymislost:thecomplicated
lesspredictable
and unexpected
something
bolism,however,
preacherwho inventedSojourner
ex-slaveand itinerant
experienceof a northern
figureamong
intoa familiar
Truthin New YorkCityin 1843and whomade herself
objects.Her little
throughthe sale ofendlesslyreproducible
feminist
abolitionists
but
and nonfeminists),
couldspeakto people ofall nations(feminists
photographs
and ambiguous.
likethevoiceoftheHoly Spirit,theirmeaningremainspowerful
APPENDIX I
Thisis thereportof SojournerTruth'sspeechin Akron,Ohio, in 1851as it appearsin the
ThenewsbyMariusRobinson.
Salem[Ohio]Anti-Slavery
Bugle,June21,1851,reported
Massachusetts.
Worcester,
Antiquarian
Society,
paperis heldbytheAmerican
67 Truth's
has not preventedcriticsfromwritingabout
attemptto embodyherselfthroughherphotographs
and historicdimensionsand herphysicalbodywereattenuated.Denise Rileyuses
heras thoughherexistential
thatTruthmightnowask,"Ain'tI a fluctuating
playfully
thecategory
Truthto interrogate
"women,"suggesting
of 'Women'in History(Minneapolis,
See Denise Riley,"AmI ThatName?"Feminismand the Category
identity?"
figure,"a shape changer."See Donna Haraway,"Ecce Homo,
1988), 1. Donna HarawayreadsTruthas a trickster
Landscape,"in Feminists
Others:The Humanin a Post-Humanist
Ain't(Ar'n't)I a Woman,and Inappropriate/d
TheorizethePolitical,ed.JudithButlerandJoanW. Scott(NewYork,1992),86-100.Foran analysismorekindred
in Her Photographic
to myown,see RichardPowell,"SojournerTruthand theInventionofGenteelDomesticity
'Self-Portraiture,"'
paper deliveredat the meetingof the College ArtAssociation,New York,January1994 (in
Painter'spossession).
68 ElizabethAnneMcCauley,
(New Haven,1985).
Photograph
A. A. E. Disdiriand theCartede VisitePortrait
SojournerTruth'sKnowingand BecomingKnown
489
wasmade
speechesoftheConvention
One ofthemostunique and interesting
it to paper,
bySojournerTruth,an emancipatedslave.It is impossibleto transfer
it producedupon the audience.Those
or conveyanyadequate idea of the effect
onlycan appreciateit who saw her powerfulform,her whole-souled,earnest
to the
tones.She cameforward
gestures,
and listenedto herstrongand truthful
platform
and addressingthe Presidentsaid withgreatsimplicity:
answer,she proceeded;I want
MayI saya fewwords?Receivingan affirmative
to saya fewwordsabout thismatter.I am a woman'srights[sic].I haveas much
muscleas anyman,and cando as muchworkas anyman.I haveplowedandreaped
and huskedand choppedand mowed,and can anymando morethanthat?I have
heardmuchaboutthesexesbeingequal; I can carryas muchas anyman,and can
eat as muchtoo,ifI can getit. I am as strongas anyman thatis now.As forintellect,all I can sayis, ifa womanhavea pintand a man a quart-why cantshe
haveherlittlepintfull?You need not be afraidto giveus our rightsforfearwe
willtaketoo much,-forwe canttakemorethanourpint'llhold. The poormen
ifyouhave
seemto be all in confusion,
and dontknowwhatto do. Whychildren,
woman'srightsgiveitto herand youwillfeelbetter.Youwillhaveyourownrights,
and theywontbe so muchtrouble.I cantread,but I can hear.I haveheardthe
bibleand havelearnedthatEvecausedmanto sin.Wellifwomanupsettheworld,
do givehera chanceto setitrightsideup again.The LadyhasspokenaboutJesus,
howhe neverspurnedwomanfromhim,and shewasright.WhenLazarusdied,
Maryand Marthacameto himwithfaithand loveand besoughthimto raisetheir
AndJesuswept- and Lazaruscameforth.And howcameJesusintothe
brother.
world?ThroughGod who createdhim and womanwho borehim. Man, where
is yourpart?Butthewomenarecomingup blessedbe God and a fewofthemen
are comingup withthem.But man is in a tightplace, thepoorslaveis on him,
womanis comingon him,and he is surelybetweena hawkand a buzzard.
in C. PeterRipley,ed., The BlackAbolitionist
This reportalso appearswithcommentary
Papers(5 vols.,Chapel Hill, 1985-1992),IV, 81-83.
APPENDIX II
This is the letterthatFrancesDana Gage publishedin theIndependent,April23, 1863.
The letterwassoonreprinted
and editedbyvariousnewspapers,
includingtheBostonComare
monwealth,
May 1, 1863,whichcutthe linesabout beingwhipped.Bothnewspapers
Massachusetts.
in the collectionsof the AmericanAntiquarianSociety,Worcester,
"SojournerTruth."By Mrs.F. D. Gage.
The storyof "SojournerTruth,"byMrs.H. B. Stowe,in theAprilnumberof
TheAtlanticwillbe readbythousandsin theEastand Westwithintenseinterest;
womanwilllaydownthisperiodical,there
and as thosewhoknewthisremarkable
willbe heardin home-circles
Ohio,Michigan,Wisconsin,and Illinois
throughout
whowasat oncea marveland
creature,
manyan anecdoteoftheweird,wonderful
a mystery.
on Sojourner's
Mrs.Stowe'sremarks
opinionofWoman'sRights,bringvividly
to myminda scenein Ohio, neverto be forgotten
bythosewhowitnessedit. In
490
The Journalof AmericanHistory
September1994
wascalled in Akron,Ohio, by
thespringof 1851,a Woman'sRightsConvention
unpopularcause.I attendedthatConvention.
ofthatthenwondrously
thefriends
No one at thisdaycan conceiveofthestateoffeelingofthemultitudethatcame
togetheron thatoccasion.
The Conventionin the springof 1850,in Salem,Ohio, reportedat lengthin
TheNew YorkTribunebythatstaunchfriendof Human rights,OliverJohnson,
Mass.,
at Worcester,
followedin Octoberofthe sameyearbyanotherconvention
eachamplyvilified
wellreportedand wellabused,withdiversminorconventions,
had set theworldall agog,and thepeople,findingthewomen
and caricatured,
in earnest,turnedout in largenumbersto see and hear.
undertheweightof disapprobation
staggering
The leadersof themovement,
aliveto everyappearanceof evil that
alreadylaid upon them,and tremblingly
intopanicson
mightspringup in theirmidst,weremanyofthemalmostthrown
thefirstdayofthe meeting,byseeinga tall,gauntblackwomanin a graydress
and whiteturban,surmountedby an uncouthsun-bonnet,marchdeliberately
intothechurch,walkwiththeairofa queen up theaisle,and takeherseatupon
washeardall overthehouse,and such
thepulpitsteps.A buzz ofdisapprobation
wordsas thesefallupon listeningears:
"Women'sRightsand niggers!""We toldyouso. Go it,
"Anabolitionaffair!"
old darky!"
laurelsin publiclife,as president
I chancedupon thatoccasionto wearmyfirst
and the businessof thehour
restored,
was
At
order
ofthemeeting. myrequest,
sessionwasheld; theevening
wenton. The morningsessionclosed;theafternoon
as the"LibyanStatue,"
quietand reticent
cameand went;old Sojourner,
exercises
sat crouchedagainstthe wall on a cornerof the pulpit stairs,her sun-bonnet
shadinghereyes,herelbowon herknee,and herchinrestingon herbroad,hard
palm.
a narrative
she wasbusysellingthe"Lifeof SojournerTruth,"
At intermissions
life.
of herown strangeand adventurous
ones cameto me and said withearAgainand againtimorousand trembling
in theland
"Don'tletherspeak,Mrs.G. It willruinus. Everynewspaper
nestness,
will have our cause mixedwithabolitionand niggers,and we shall be utterly
denounced."My onlyanswerwas,"We shallsee whenthe timecomes."
The secondday the workwaxedwarm.Methodist,Baptist,Episcopal,Presand Universalist
ministers
came in to hearand discussthe resolutions
byterian,
forman becauseofsubroughtforth.One claimedsuperiorrightsand privileges
periorintellect;anotherbecauseof the manhoodof Christ.If God had desired
theequalityofwoman,he wouldhavegivensometokenof his willthroughthe
viewoftheawful
birth,life,and deathoftheSavior.Anothergaveus a theological
mother.Therewerefewwomenin thosedaysthatdaredto "speak
sinofourfirst
bombast,
in meeting,"
and the augustteachersof thepeople,withlong-winded
wereseemingto getthe betterofus, whiletheboysin thegalleriesand sneerers
as theysupposed,ofthe
amongthepewswereenjoyinghugelythediscomfiture,
friendsweregrowingindignantand
Some of thetender-skinned
strong-minded.
betokened
of theconvention
on thepointoflosingdignity,
and the atmosphere
a storm.
Slowlyfromher seat in the cornerrose SojournerTruth,who,till now,had
hardlyliftedherhead. "Don't let herspeak,"gaspeda half-dozenin myear.She
SojournerTruth'sKnowingand BecomingKnown
491
tothefront;laid herold bonnetatherfeet,and turned
movedslowlyand solemnly
hergreatspeakingeyesto me.
aboveand below.I roseand anTherewasa hissingsoundof disapprobation
and beggedtheaudienceto keepsilencefora fewmoTruth,"
nounced"Sojourner
ments.The tumultsubsidedat once, and everyeye was fixedon this almost
Amazonform,whichstoodnearlysixfeethigh,head erect,an eyepiercingthe
wordtherewas a profoundhush.She
upperair likeone in a dream.At herfirst
spokein deep tones,which,thoughnotloud, reachedeveryearin thehouse,and
awaythroughthe throngat the doorsand windows.
"Well,chillen,whardar'sso muchracketdar mustbe som'tingout o' kilter.
I tinkdat, 'twixttheniggersof de Soufand de womenat de Norf,all a-talking
'bout rights,de whitemen will be in a fixprettysoon. But what'sall thishere
talking'bout?Dat manoverdarsaydatwomanneedsto be helpedintocarriages,
Nobodyeberhelps
and liftedoberditches,and to havede bestplace eberywhar.
or obermud-puddles,orgivesme anybestplace;"and, raising
me intocarriages,
herselfto herfullheight,and hervoiceto a pitchlikerollingthunder,sheasked,
"Andar'n'tI a woman?Lookat me. Lookat myarm,"and she baredherrightarm
to the shoulder,showingits tremendousmuscularpower."I have plowedand
plantedand gatheredinto barns,and no man could head me- and ar'n'tI a
woman?I couldworkas muchand eat as muchas a man, (whenI could getit,)
chillen,and
and bearde lashas well- and ar'n'tI a woman?I havebornethirteen
and whenI criedout witha mother'sgrief,
seen 'emmos' all sold offintoslavery,
none butJesusheard-and ar'n'tI a woman?When deytalks'bout dis tingin
whisperedsome one near."Dat's it,
de head. What dis dey call it?" "Intellect,"
Ifmycupwon't
honey.What'sdatgotto do withwoman'srightsorniggers'rights?
hold buta pintand yournholdsa quart,wouldn'tyebe meannotto let me have
and senta keen
finger
full?"and shepointedhersignificant
mylittlehalf-measure
who had made theargument.The cheeringwaslongand
glanceat the minister
loud. "Den dat littleman in blackdar,he saywomancan'thaveas muchright
as man 'cause Christwa'n'ta woman.Whardid yourChristcomefrom?"
Rollingthundercouldnothavestilledthatcrowdas did thosedeep wonderful
armsand eyeoffire.Raisinghervoice
tones,as she stoodtherewithoutstretched
stilllouder,she repeated,
"Whardid youChristcomefrom?FromGod and a woman.Man had noting
to do withhim."Oh! whata rebukeshegavethelittleman. Turningagainto anotherobjector,shetookup thedefenseofMotherEve.I cannotfollowherthrough
it all. It was pointedand wittyand solemn;elicitingat almosteverysentence
"thatifde fustwomanGod ever
deafeningapplause;and she ended byasserting
made wasstrongenoughto turnde worldupsidedownall herone lone,all dese
and she glancedhereyeoverus, "oughtto be able to turnit back an
togeder,"
gitit rightside up again,and nowdeyis askingto,de men betterlet 'em."(Long
continuouscheering.)"'Bleeged to yeforhearin'on me, and nowold Sojourner
ha'n'tgot nothin'moreto say."
leavingmorethanone ofus
Amidroarsofapplauseshe turnedto hercorner,
withstreaming
eyesand heartsbeatingwithgratitude.She had takenus up in
turning
hergreatstrongarmsand carriedus safelyoverthe sloughof difficulty,
the wholetide in our favor.
I havegivenbut a faintsketchof herspeech.I haveneverin mylifeseen any-
492
The Journalof AmericanHistory
September1994
thatsubduedthemobbishspiritoftheday,and
thinglikethemagicalinfluence
turnedthejibes and sneersofan excitedcrowdintonotesofrespectand admiration. Hundredsrushedup to shake hands and congratulatethe gloriousold
agin concernin'
mother,and bid her "God-speed"on hermissionof "testifying
of thisherepeople."
the wickedness
Once upon a Sabbathin Michiganan abolitionmeetingwasheld. ParkerPillshimselffreelyupon theconductofthechurches
burywasspeaker,and expressed
A
regardingslavery.While he spoke,therecame up a fearfulthunder-storm.
him,said he feltalarmed;he feltas if
youngMethodistroseand, interrupting
God's judgmentwas about to fall upon him fordaringto sit and hear such
Here a voicesounding
blasphemy;thatit made his hairalmostrisewithterror.
above the rain thatbeat upon the roof,the sweepingsurgeof the winds,the
crashingof the limbsof trees,swayingof branches,and the rollingof thunder,
spokeout: "Chile,don'tbe skeered;you'renotgoin'to be harmed.I don'tspeck
God's everheerntell on ye!"
It was all she said, but it was enough.I mightmultiplyanecdotes(and some
of the bestcannotbe told) tillyourpageswouldnot containthem,and yetthe
I will close,onlysayingto thosewho think
fundnot be exhausted.Therefore,
ofideas
publicopiniondoesnotchange,thattheyhaveonlytolookat theprogress
fromthe standpointof old SojournerTruthtwelveyearsago.
The despisedand mobbedAfricanis nowtheheroineofan articlein themost
popularperiodicalin the United States.Then Sojournercould say,"If woman
wantsrights,let hertake'em."Now,womendo takethem,and public opinion
sustainsthem.
SojournerTruthis notdead; but,old and feeble,sherestsfromherlaborsnear
BattleCreek,Michigan.