Sojourner Truth and Charles White

Denny Webster

50 x 30 inches

2019

ARTIST STATEMENT

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. She challenged: “I have plowed and worked as hard as any man and ‘Am I not a woman and a sister?’”

The image here was from the 1939 mural Five Great American Negroes painted by 21 year-old Charles White, who, like Sojourner Truth, dedicated his life to issues of social justice and human rights.

MATERIALS

Digital images, commercial cotton fabric, lace, cotton and polyester thread, batting

Free motion stitching, machine stitching, digital photo printing