Seeing Truth

with Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw

Sojourner Truth's words were not always her own. But her image was. She made sure of it. After 'walking away' from slavery, abolitionist Sojourner Truth chose her own name, told her own story at speaking engagements, and sued for her young son's freedom. (She won.) As senior historian Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw explains, there’s something else she took control of— her portrait. 

African American woman with long black hair in a red sweater

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw

View additional portraits of Sojourner Truth in the collection:
  • [Featured image] Sojourner Truth / Unidentified Artist / 1864, Albumen silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / NPG.79.209
  • Sojourner Truth / Unidentified Artist / 1864, Albumen silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution /NPG.78.207 
  • Sojourner Truth / Randall Studio, active 1865 - 1875? / c. 1870, Albumen silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / NPG.79.220
  • Sojourner Truth / Mathew Brady Studio, active 1844 - 1894 / c. 1864, Albumen silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / NPG.2002.90