SOUJOURNER TRUTH & CHARLES WHITE *
Isabella Baumfree Van Wagonen (1797-1883) was a former slave who answered a spiritual calling to “go East” and spread the Truth. Traveling throughout New England, the Midwest and East Coast, Sojourner Truth spoke powerfully about the injustices of slavery and voting rights for ALL women. At an early Women’s Suffrage rally in Ohio, she stood her full six feet tall and thundered, “I have plowed and worked as hard as any man, and am I not a woman and a sister?”
Noted for her strong speaking and singing voice, her articulateness and quick wit, Truth lived at the Northampton settlement with Frederick Douglass and other abolitionist activists prior to the Civil War. As colleague and friend to Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and many early suffragists, she spoke Truth to Power to support women’s rights.
The image here was from the 1939 mural “Five Great American Negroes” painted by 21-year-old Charles White (1918-1979) who, like Sojourner Truth, dedicated his art and his life to issues of social justice and human rights. This extraordinarily talented artist and teacher was committed to creating images of those African-Americans who were not included in history books or were overlooked every day in contemporary life.
CALL TO ACTION
Polaris (anti-slavery and human trafficking) www.polarisproject.org
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation (Civil and human rights, Social Justice www.aclu.org
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Foundation www.naacpldf.org
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) supporting and educating young and established artists. www.lacma.org
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation (Civil and human rights, Social Justice www.aclu.org
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Foundation www.naacpldf.org
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) supporting and educating young and established artists. www.lacma.org
DENNY WEBSTER
Denny Webster is a retired professor of nursing and feminist therapist. She began quilting when her first grandchild was born and shortly thereafter extended her interests to art quilting. Her series “The Ladies” and “Healing Quilts” were intended to educate, amuse, and/or contribute to healing ourselves and others at the individual, local and global levels. www.dennywebster.com