Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth participated in the debates over which group should get suffrage first—black men or women. In 1867, the former slave declared: “If colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before.” Having experienced unequal pay due to her gender, she became concerned with women’s economic prosperity. To earn a living, Truth sold her autobiography and portraits like this one. Here, her inscription, “I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance,” emphasizes her financial acumen.