Sojourner Truth
Photograph
Sojourner Truth
ca. 1881
Albumen silver print
Image: 3 11/16 × 2 1/4 in. (9.3 × 5.7 cm)
Mount: 4 1/16 × 2 7/16 in. (10.3 × 6.2 cm)
Museum accession
1981.5029.0001
Inscriptions Printed on mount recto, B: I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance. \ Sojourner Truth.
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, OA: [illegible] Creek \ died [illegible] Nov 1883 \ Funeral Presbyterian Church \ Nov. 28th \ from C.A. Cannet [?]
Printed in black on mount verso, C: [within ornate graphic] RANDALL, \ Photographer \ 220 \ WOODWARD AVE. \ DETROIT. \ MICH.
Printed in black on mount verso, B: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1864, by SOJOURNER TRUTH, in the Clerk's Office, \ of the U.S. District Court, for the Eastern District \ [illegible]
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, OA: [illegible] Creek \ died [illegible] Nov 1883 \ Funeral Presbyterian Church \ Nov. 28th \ from C.A. Cannet [?]
Printed in black on mount verso, C: [within ornate graphic] RANDALL, \ Photographer \ 220 \ WOODWARD AVE. \ DETROIT. \ MICH.
Printed in black on mount verso, B: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1864, by SOJOURNER TRUTH, in the Clerk's Office, \ of the U.S. District Court, for the Eastern District \ [illegible]
TextBy the mid-1800s, collecting photographs of celebrities had become a popular pastime. Individuals often compiled card-mounted photographs of politicians, actors, activists (such as the women pictured in these photographs), and other notable people into albums alongside photographs of their own family members and friends. Abolitionist and activist Sojourner Truth recognized the power of photography to connect celebrity likenesses with social messages. She capitalized on the craze by copyrighting her own image and then selling the photographs to support speaking tours on which she addressed the abolition of slavery and advocated for women’s rights. The slogan she had printed on the mounts (“I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance”) made it clear that the sales of her image directly helped her cause.
—Label text, History of Photography [Rotation 15]
—Label text, History of Photography [Rotation 15]
