The Libyan [African] Sibyl, Sojourner Truth, was an abolitionist and activist advocating for the rights of blacks and African-American women.

Her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?” remains heart-wrenching for me, especially in a revolutionary context. The speech was intended as a response to speakers at the Convention who used God’s verse to justify that women are weak and black people, particularly black women, are an inferior/subservient race.

She asserted, “Suppose a man’s mind holds a quart, and a woman’s doesn’t hold but a pint; if her pint is full, it’s as good as a quart.” “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and set it right-side up again, and now that they are asking to do it, the men better let them.”

Her fights have inspired many, not only when she was still “owned” by Hardenberg and Dumont, but also within today’s activism on racial, modern slavery, and women empowerment issues. Her thoughts have spread throughout the world and can be applied in understanding exploitative situations, especially intersectional problems such as what happened to Truth — the intersection of race, gender, sex, religion, and so on.

Just like Truth, truth is powerful and it prevails.