Subject: RELEASE: Clinton, Jackson Lee Welcome Selection of Artist for Sojourner Truth Bust
From: "Clinton, Press Office (Clinton)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:17:11 -0500

For Immediate Release

November 29, 2007

Contact:

Judith Kargbo (Jackson Lee) 202-225-3816

Clinton Press Office 202-224-2243 or 

[email-masked]

 

CLINTON, JACKSON LEE WELCOME SELECTION OF ARTIST FOR SOJOURNER TRUTH
BUST

Applaud Key Step Toward Placing Statue in United States Capitol

Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congresswoman Sheila
Jackson Lee today welcomed the announcement by the National Congress of
Black Women (NCBW) that the distinguished artist Artis Lane will create
the statue of Sojourner Truth to be placed in the United States Capitol.
Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Jackson Lee applauded the choice of
Lane as a key step toward completing this important project that they
have long championed.

"Sojourner Truth was a courageous and inspiring American hero who
persevered through great hardship to become a beacon for women's rights
and equality for all," Senator Clinton said. "I am pleased by the
selection of Artis Lane, a sculptor of great talent. It is fitting that
the woman who famously sculpted Rosa Parks will now create this long
overdue tribute to Sojourner Truth."

"I commend Artis Lane's extraordinary commitment to memorializing the
legacy of Sojourner Truth on Capitol Hill. It is through her relentless
dedication, creative mind and outstanding artistic skills that Artis
Lane will capture the true essence of Sojourner Truth," stated
Congresswoman Jackson Lee. "Sojourner Truth was a monumental figure
among the movement for women's suffrage in the United States. The
recognition of Sojourner Truth in the United States Capitol amongst the
great women suffragists is well deserved."

Led by the late Dr. C. Delores Tucker, the National Congress of Black
Women has also been a tireless advocate for honoring Sojourner Truth.
The group is donating the bust and pedestal.

"Dr. C. Delores Tucker always hoped Artis Lane would be the artist to
sculpt Sojourner Truth. Her extraordinary body of work, especially her
inspiring sculpture of Rosa Parks, makes her the perfect choice for this
historic project," said Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq., national chair of
the National Congress of Black Women. "Dr. Tucker would be very pleased
by today's news."

"The dream of finally giving Sojourner Truth the honor and recognition
she deserves is at last becoming a reality. It would not have been
possible without the remarkable vision and leadership of Senator Clinton
and Congresswoman Jackson Lee over so many years. Their support for this
project and for the work and mission of the National Congress of Black
Women has been unparalleled," said Dr. Michelle Battle, chief operating
officer of the National Congress of Black Women.

Artis Lane, 80, has had a long and notable career as a painter and
sculptor. Her subjects have included Rosa Parks, President John F.
Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Nelson
Mandela. The Parks sculpture was the first work by a black woman artist
to be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  She
also designed the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to Parks. Lane is
a descendant of renowned abolitionist, educator and publisher Mary Shadd
Carry.  

On December 20, 2006, the President signed into law legislation
sponsored by Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Jackson Lee that requires
that a statue of Sojourner Truth be placed permanently in the United
States Capitol to honor her remarkable contribution to our nation's
history. The legislation capped years of work by Senator Clinton and
Congresswoman Jackson Lee to pay appropriate tribute to Sojourner Truth.

Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in New York's Hudson Valley in
1797. After gaining her freedom in 1826 she moved to New York City and
by 1843 had changed her name to Sojourner Truth. For much of her adult
life she traveled the country preaching for the abolition of slavery and
women's suffrage. After attending the 1850 National Woman's Rights
Convention, Truth made women's suffrage a focal point of her speeches,
portraying women as powerful, independent figures. Her most famous
speech, "Ain't I A Woman," given at the 1851 Women's Rights Convention
in Akron, Ohio, has become a classic text on women's rights. Sojourner
Truth was a powerful figure within several additional national social
movements, including the abolition of slavery, the rights of freedmen,
temperance, prison reform, and the termination of capital punishment. 

Sojourner Truth died November 26, 1883 in Battle Creek, Michigan. She
has since been inducted into both the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
(1983) and the National Women's Hall of Fame (1981) in Seneca Falls, New
York. A United States Postage Stamp was dedicated in her honor at the
Sojourner Truth Library in New Paltz, New York, on February 5, 1986. 

 

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