In honor of International Women’s Day, Atwood Magazine has invited artists to participate in a series of essays reflecting on identity, music, culture, inclusion, and more.
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Today, The I AM PROUD Collective, led by folk songwriter, illustrator, and creative producer Lizi Morse, reflects on the enduring legacy of American abolitionist and activist Sojourner Truth, exploring how her words continue to resonate in today’s struggles for equality, solidarity, and justice in a special essay for for Atwood Magazine in honor of International Women’s Day.
The collective brings together a group of acclaimed folk artists including Angeline Morrison, Leonie Evans, Priscilla Andersohn, and Rhiannon Takel, uniting voices across the UK and beyond in celebration of Truth’s message and its continuing relevance today.
Led by Morse, the I AM PROUD Collective was formed over a period of 18 months with the ambition for their song to be sung all over the world. Inspired by Truth’s powerful words and the rallying cry of her famous provocation, “Ain’t I a Woman,” the collective’s project honors both the historic struggle for women’s rights and the ongoing pursuit of equality and equity for all who identify as women today.
Sojourner Truth freed herself and one of her daughters from slavery in 1826 by walking away from her slavers with pride and dignity. She died in 1883 having lived an extraordinary life standing up simultaneously against racism and sexism. Truth spent a lifetime advocating for the human rights of both people of color and women, speaking out at a time when Black men and white women were each fighting for the right to vote — often in competition rather than solidarity. Truth sought to demonstrate that men and women, regardless of race, are equal, and she became the first Black person to win a case against the state and a white man, helping prevent her son from being sold into slavery.
Using Truth’s historic call for recognition and justice as inspiration, the collective’s new single “I AM PROUD – A Tribute to Sojourner Truth” transforms “Ain’t I a Woman” into a trans-inclusive women’s protest song — a tribute to Truth’s legacy and a call for equality, equity, solidarity, and joy.
Lizi Morse is a folk songwriter, illustrator, and creative producer whose work celebrates the divinity in each and every body, helping people feel strong in themselves and more connected to others while challenging oppressive histories and structures.
Angeline Morrison, recently hailed by MOJO as one of the voices “taking folk into the future,” is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter whose work draws on traditional song, hidden ancestral voices of Old Albion, and explorations of diaspora, nation, and history.
Leonie Evans is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, teacher, and event organiser whose dreamy, jazzy, and unclassifiable songcraft has appeared in projects including the Bristol-based quartet Rae and through her wide-ranging collaborations across an ever-expanding musical community.
Rhiannon Takel is a Welsh folk singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and gender-affirming voice coach whose work explores traditional music through queer perspectives, including as a member of the trans/queer folk trio Craven.
Priscilla Andersohn is a vocalist, songwriter, facilitator, and performance artist whose work lives at the intersection of music, emotion, and human connection, creating performances that invite audiences into shared landscapes of feeling and imagination.
“I AM PROUD – A Tribute to Sojourner Truth” is out now. Read The I AM PROUD Collective’s essay below.
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SOME VOICES DO NOT FADE
How Sojourner Truth’s Words and Her Inspiring Actions Have International Resonance Today. Together, We Are Stronger.
by I AM PROUD Collective
I actually don’t remember where I first encountered Sojourner Truth.
I think it was likely a Facebook meme about 12 years ago. What I do know is that her words stuck. The phrase ‘And ain’t I a woman’ played over and over in my head. I began jamming it along to one of my favourite Neil Young songs, Old Man, as if an answer to it. I am like an old man, just as I am like a man, or a person. For I am human, I feel, I work, I hope, I am whole. I had just turned 30, and with the help of incredible women, had finally found the courage to sing publicly, having hidden my voice since my teens, the paranoia and imposter syndrome having silenced me for over a decade. With the helping hand of women in my life, and inspiring women from history, I grew and gained confidence to share who I am.
There are different accounts of what Sojourner Truth said, and an annoying, but relevant history of white women editing her and stereotyping her. What we do know is that she made an incredible speech at the Ohio’s Women’s Rights Convention in 1851. She spoke out at a time when Black men were trying to get the vote at the same time as white women. Her voice called for a true sense of equality and equity that included everyone, and in particular in this case, Black women, which many white women had not considered.
As someone with fragile tendencies, learning more about this inspiring woman and the things she overcame have honestly helped me to reframe my perspective. Sojourner Truth managed to free herself from slavery by walking away with one of her daughters. She reinvented herself, empowering herself with a chosen name, eradicating herself from her slave name and patriarchal marriage name. She was the first Black woman to win a case against the state and a white man and prevented her son from being illegally sold back into slavery.
Her story is as important today as it ever has been. We know that institutional and structural racism impact the lives of our communities. We know that our trans communities feel under threat after UK and US Supreme Court rulings. In fact all the phobias, hatreds and isms are more visible and more and more people feel scared to leave their homes. We believe Sojourner Truth said, “You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much, for we can’t take more than our pint’ll hold.” This provocation feels so true today, it makes so much sense. It applies universally.
Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist and fought for prison reform. The thing is, slavery never went away. Modern Day Slavery, rebranded and off shore still exists and the convenience of lightning speed consumerism makes it easy to ignore. Prisons still need reforming as does the Criminal Justice System as a whole. The evidence of institutional and structural racism is well documented. Racism has never gone away. Right now, more and more white communities are waking up to this, with overt racism being visible on the streets with flags, demos, and in America, the continued killing and detention of innocent humans. It is intimidating.
Sojourner Truth’s legacy demonstrates that we can overcome this and stand up for what is right. Seeing people come together in song, in Minnesota to stand up to ICE brought tears to my eyes. It was a moment of hope, in what has been feeling like a barrage of hatred and oppression from every angle. We need more white allyship, more queer allyship. We need to listen, we need to reach out and find ways to work together. We need to stand together and we need to be vocal.
I wrote this song, over 9 years, with no ambition for it, other than an exercise in seeing if I could write a song. It stayed hidden a while, as I grappled with whether it was acceptable to sing it. I am a white woman, was this appropriation? I made a zine that celebrates Sojourner Truth, and decided, if I always make it clear, this is a tribute to her message, maybe it would be ok. It was uncomfortable. Allyship is. It takes examination and work and it is never complete.
I was spellbound when I approached some of my singing heroes and they agreed to sing this song with me. Within the line up is Angeline Morrison, who sings lead melody with me. Her work in archives, collecting songs, images and stories from our Black British history is so powerful. Rhiannon Takel’s work as a gender affirming voice coach is highly skilled and empowering. Leonie Evans’ career is blossoming in New Orleans as she fearlessly pursues her craft. And Priscilla Andersohn, like a superhuman, manages to balance motherhead with the uphill struggle of being a woman in music. I am so proud to have worked with them. Sojourner Truth’s message resonates through time and through this song, and I think it was her that helped call to them.
I think it was when I started seeing women, men, all genders alike, singing the song with me in our local Folk Song Session at the George & Dragon Bristol, that I started wanting to send this song out into the world. Collective singing is powerful. Whether for joy, mourning, activism or worship, it is good for our collective souls. So let’s sing.
If you would like to learn more about Sojourner Truth, I recommend as excellent starting points: bell hooks’ book, Ain’t I a Woman, and the podcast You’re Dead to Me – “Sojourner Truth: American abolitionist, suffragist, preacher.” – Lizi Morse, I AM PROUD Collective
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I have raised, tilled and hoe’d
I have chopped, reaped and mowed
I am proud, never cowed
I have ploughed, husked and sewed
And ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I, ain’t I
Ain’t I a woman
I have pinned stitched and ripped
I have chopped, eased and snipped
Shoulders burden, keep on workin’
I have sewed, packed and shipped
And ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I, ain’t I
Ain’t I a woman
I measure, plan and excavate
Assemble, design and fabricate
I am deliberate, ever considerate
I conceive and generate
And ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I, ain’t I
Ain’t I a woman
And ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I a woman
Ain’t I, ain’t I
Ain’t I a woman
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