Sojourner Truth Honored at Capitol

First lady Michelle Obama honors abolitionist Sojourner Truth during the unveiling a bust of Truth at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Bronze bust enshrines former slave, leader

(AP) - Michelle Obama says she hopes abolitionist Sojourner Truth would be proud to see a descendent of slaves as America's first black first lady.

Mrs. Obama made the comment April 28 as she helped unveil a bust of Truth, the first black woman to be honored with a statue at the Capitol.

"I am proud to be able to stand here on this day," the first lady told the audience of mostly women.

Truth is a former slave who met with Abraham Lincoln and was an early crusader for women's right to vote and an end to slavery.

Mrs. Obama said her two young daughters will now be able to "see the face of a woman who looks like them" when they visit the nation's Capitol.

The sculpture will remain on permanent display in the Capitol Visitor Center, called Emancipation Hall in part because slaves helped build the Capitol.

Truth met presidents Lincoln in 1864 and Ulysses S. Grant in 1870, and delivered her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. She tried to vote on two occasions, but was turned away both times. She died in November 1883 at her home in Battle Creek, Mich.

Few minority women are enshrined in the Capitol. There are several statues of American Indian women, but no Asian or Hispanic women, according Donald Ritchie, a Senate historian.

Share

_________________________________

Copyright 2006, Portland Observer

Site design by Dean Babb