Plaza dedicated at the site where Sojourner Truth gave her 1851 ‘Ain’t I a Woman?’ speech

By PATRICK ORSAGOS
Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Hundreds gathered in an Ohio city to unveil a plaza and statue dedicated to abolitionist Sojourner Truth at the very spot where the women’s rights pioneer gave an iconic 1851 speech known as “Ain’t I a Woman?” Truth delivered the speech to a crowd gathered at the Universalist Old Stone Church in Akron for the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention. The statue was unveiled on Wednesday at the site where the church once stood. In the speech, Truth drew upon the hardships she faced while she was enslaved and asked the audience why her humanity and the humanity of other enslaved African Americans was not seen in the same light as white Americans.