Sojourner Truth
Artist Judy Chicago (b. 1939) created unique place settings for thirty-nine significant women in history, titled The Dinner Party. I selected Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist, to research and explore and to be the subject matter of my research paper. She was born in 1791 and passed away in 1883. In an effort to create a place setting focusing on Sojourner Truth, I chose to show her birth and death dates on the plate. Although Sojourner Truth was born in Swartekill, New York, she was of African decent and experienced the terror of slavery. I chose to use a black fabric as the base of the placemat; black is a color that represents power as well as evil. Sojourner Truth was indeed a powerful woman in America’s history who also endured great evil being born into slavery and having braved the evil and wicked system of slavery. I selected an African-printed textile, utilizing red, yellow and green colors, to enhance the placemat. Through my research I learned that each pattern and color within an African fabric or textile has a specific meaning. Red is the color of fire and blood and is associated with energy, war, danger, strength and power. Yellow is the color of the sun and brings happiness, joy and energy. Green, the color of nature, symbolizes growth, hope and safety. This pattern represents culture and unity. It embodies Sojourner Truth’s fight to overcome the war of slavery through great strength, power and energy with relentless hope for a better future. In the center of the dinner plate is a large black star, representing a well-known quote of Sojourner Truth; “I am not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star”. While there may be various interpretations of what Sojourner Truth meant by these words, I decipher it like this: as a strong Methodist woman, Sojourner Truth believed that upon her earthly death, she would live in eternity with God and she was going to pass from this earth to heaven in a visible, bright and shining way. A shooting star creates a path in the atmosphere. Sojourner Truth created a path for justice and equality on this earth in a way that will positively affect the lives of all people for eternity.