Painting by Audrey Flack, inspired by a famous quote from Sojourner Truth, on a poster from the Images of Labor series:

“Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted.And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man — when I could get it — and bear the lash as well — and ain’t I a woman?”

Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883) was an inspired orator and abolitionist.  Born a slave in upstate New York, she left domestic employment in New York City when she began having visions and hearing voices in 1843.  Following this spiritual guidance she took the name Sojourner Truth and traveled throughout the Northeast speaking about the evils of slavery, soon becoming one of the best known abolitionists in the country.

The famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech that inspired this painting was delivered at a Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1854, and urged white women suffragists to recognize the common femininity of all women.

Image from the Images of Labor Collection, Bread and Roses, artist Audrey Flack.