Sojourner Truth: I Sell The Shadow To Support The Substance.

Sojourner Truth commissioned and sold this carte de visite as a means of funding her activities as a suffragist. In discussing “women’s voting rights,” we must acknowledge the silent “white” that precedes the term. Race and gender were polarizing in the movements for voting rights when activists’ support was often conditional upon the exclusion of Black men, Black women, and women of color. Yet Black women like Sojourner Truth were pioneers of an inclusive and collaborative women’s suffrage movement that sought to enfranchise all citizens, regardless of race, gender, or class.