On May 29, 2024, after five years of planning and fundraising, the Sojourner Truth Project and its partners will dedicate the Sojourner Truth Legacy Plaza and Statue. The ceremony and celebration, which are free for all to attend, will begin promptly at 5:30pm at 37 N. High St.  The ceremony will include the dedication of the plaza with tributes by elected officials and partners, and the dramatic unveiling of the statue created by Akron native and internationally recognized sculptor, Woodrow Nash.

The Sojourner Truth Project, the singular undertaking of the Summit Suffrage Centennial Committee, recognizes the importance of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote and honors Sojourner Truth and her tireless advocacy for women’s rights.

The site of this new community asset is adjacent to the actual location of the Old Stone Church where Sojourner Truth gave her historic, “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech in Akron on May 29, 1851. More recently it was a parking lot donated by the United Way of Summit and Medina to host the statue and plaza.  UWSM, which still owns the property, will be the ongoing custodian of the site.

Sojourner Truth was a former slave turned abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights. The Sojourner Truth statue and plaza will stand as a reminder of the work that is still necessary to ensure all women are included in the fight for equity.

How did the project come about?

The Sojourner Truth Project is the outcome of meetings convened by Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro in 2018.  The year 2020 was approaching and many organizations were interested in celebrating the momentous 100-year anniversary of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.  Executive Shapiro’s goal was for a single project that all could agree on.  After much discussion the representatives agreed to resurrect a project begun more than 20 years earlier by women’s history and empowerment advocate Faye Hirsh Dambrot who had the vision of erecting a statue to honor Sojourner Truth and her historic Akron speech.

Why is this project so meaningful for the League of Women Voters?

The road to women’s suffrage was hard fought for more than 70 years.  With the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, many of the women who had worked so hard for the right to vote understood that attaining the vote was just the start. Voters needed non-partisan information to help them make educated voting decisions.  Thus was born the League of Women Voters. The original League mission remains largely unchanged from ours today: to foster democracy by educating citizens about the candidates and issues on their ballots and advocating for issues based on positions developed at the grassroots level. 

The League of Women Voters of the Akron Area together with LWV Hudson raised $25,000 to help fund the statue of Sojourner Truth.  Donations at this level will be permanently inscribed on the plaza. 

How will the meaning of this project be sustained?

The Sojourner Truth Project’s Education Committee will continue its work educating the community through its partnerships with Akron Public Schools, Akron-Summit County Public Library, the Summit County Historical Society, and others to develop curricula that teach the story of Sojourner Truth’s journey from slavery to women’s rights advocate while inspiring future leaders to realize that personal goals are attainable.

Toward that end, the committee, in partnership with the Akron Press Club, is sponsoring an annual $5,000 scholarship competition in Sojourner Truth’s name for prospective journalism students. The first scholarship was awarded to Demetrion Duvall of Buchtel Community Learning Center.  He and other Akron Press Club scholarship winners were recognized April 26, 2024, at the Akron Press Club’s Scholarship Luncheon. 

About the Summit Suffrage Centennial Committee

Women community leaders in Summit County came together in 2018 to establish the Summit Suffrage Centennial Committee to recognize the importance of the Suffrage Centennial in Summit County. From this committee, the Sojourner Truth Project-Akron was born. This project is a renewed effort to establish a Sojourner Truth statute in Akron, the site of Truth's famous speech that challenged the exclusion of women from basic political and human rights.