Maquette (Sojourner Truth Monument)

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Description

Sojourner Truth (ca. 1797–1883) escaped slavery in 1826 to become a prominent African American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. Chase-Riboud inserts Truth into an equestrian monument tradition usually reserved for white male statesmen. Rather than depict her riding the horse, however, the artist shows her leading it while holding a lantern aloft. Truth appears less to command than to seek, even as she brings light into a dark world. The artist submitted this maquette to a memorial statue competition in Truth’s hometown of Florence in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Object Information

Date Created:

1999

Local ID:

2007.13

Collection:

N-YHS Museum, Sculpture

Credit Line:

Courtesy of the Artist

Dimensions:

20 x 24 x 14 in. (50.8 x 61 x 35.6 cm)

Creator(s):

Barbara Chase-Riboud

Materials:

Bronze

Rights:

This digital image may be used for educational or scholarly purposes without restriction. Commercial and other uses of the item are prohibited without prior written permission from the New-York Historical Society. For more information, please visit the New-York Historical Society's Rights and Reproductions Department web page at http://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Appears In

Resource Kit
New-York Historical Society

Sojourner Truth - Advocate for Abolitionism and Women's Rights

Examine the history of the abolitionist movement in the 19th century through the life of Sojourner Truth. This kit explores the intersections of race and gender within the movement through Sojourner Truth’s activism. Essential Questions: How did Sojourner Truth become involved in the abolitionist movement? How did her advocacy for abolition and women’s rights intersect? How did her work fit within the larger abolitionist and women’s rights movements?

Created by: New-York Historical Society

Grade 6-12