Sojourner Truth

Today, if they remember her at all, people identify Sojourner Truth as the ex-slave who dramatically bared her breasts and demanded "Ar'n't I a woman?" at a 19th century women's rights rally. In her painstakingly researched biography, Nell Irvin Painter seeks to find out "the truth about Truth." She should be applauded for bringing to a wider audience the story of this extraordinary self-made woman and for making acute observations about the myths of slavery.

WASHINGTON - Fourteen-year-old April Greene traveled from Murfreesboro, Tenn., with her family to watch Congress dedicate a statue of her ancestor - abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, born a slave in 1818. "I'm his great-great-great-granddaughter," she said, counting the "greats" on her fingers. "It's an honor. " On Wednesday, other descendants and national and local officials gathered in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center for the ceremony. Douglass' statue is the fourth honoring an African American in the Capitol, after statues of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth.

Kalisha Crone and Vera Vanderkraan both daydream about going to college and enjoy debating American history. In the spirit of competition, the two seventh-graders also love a good fight. It was only fitting, then, that the Oxnard girls were chosen co-winners of a speech contest in which top prize was a chance to address hundreds of people who attended the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Monday, one of several held across Ventura County. "These two girls are wonderful.

Frank Sinatra's family purchased her portrait of President Kennedy. Rosa Parks asked her to design her congressional Gold Medal. And President Clinton bought her painting of Hillary. Artis Lane's sculptures and paintings are in the private collections of Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou and Nelson Mandela. She has also created works for Michael Jordan, Quincy Jones and Armand Hammer. But at 81, Lane is celebrating what may be her greatest commission.

A controversy over the placement of a statue in the Capitol Rotunda has escalated into a monumental battle, pitting white and black feminists in a competition to recognize women's struggle for the right to vote. The contretemps stems from a hard-won victory by a predominantly white coalition of women's rights activists to have a statue of three suffrage leaders--Lucretia Mott, Susan B.

I agree that Sojourner Truth should be included with the Stanton, Anthony, Mott statue (April 1) but feel Lucy Stone should also be included. (For many years women who did not change their names when they married were called "Lucy Stoners," after Lucy started the practice.) She started speaking out, nationally, for abolition and woman's suffrage in 1847. She was a mentor for both Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. Anthony was not a very good student, as she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton split the women's movement into two groups over policy differences with Stone.

Tina Allen, whose monumental sculptures of prominent African Americans through history -- including abolitionist Sojourner Truth and author Alex Haley -- fill public spaces across the United States, has died. She was 58. Allen died Tuesday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center of complications from a heart attack, her former husband, Roger Allen, said. She had been a resident of North Hills. Her first major commission, in 1986, set the course for her future. She made a 9-foot bronze sculpture of labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who helped organize a union for sleeping car porters in the 1920s, for a train station in Boston.

In "The African Book of Names," a new work compiled by Askhari Hodari, there are more than 5,000 names deriving from 37 nations and more than 70 ethno-linguistic groups. One thing that sets it apart from other name books is that it makes clear that it's not just for babies; it notes that adults have taken African names later in life. "New names can represent new stages of development," Hodari writes. "Sojourner Truth, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X)

With performance art's higher profile these days and the ongoing imperatives of multiculturalism, it will take a staunch--and committed--artist to take this medium to its next level. Funny and incisive, shrewd and intuitive, Joyce Guy can capture a whole world of female and African-American experience in a single gesture. Whether as co-curator of last month's Black December festival at Highways or in her numerous outings as a writer/performer, she brings a rare combination of passion, intelligence and good old-fashioned performing skills to her work--while calling forcefully into question cultural assumptions about race, gender and inequality.

HUG By Jez Alborough Candlewick: 32 pp., $14.99 With a cheerful chimp nearly as sweet as Curious George and a text of only three words, Jez Alborough celebrates the pleasure of giving and receiving good hugs, as well as the joy inherent in finding just the right word. "HUG," says a tiny chimp as he watches two lizards embrace and two pythons entwine. "HUG," he explains to a mother elephant and her baby who notice the chimp's forlorn expression. They decide to help him find what he's looking for and ride past an affectionate lion family, two giraffes and two hippos.

In "The African Book of Names," a new work compiled by Askhari Hodari, there are more than 5,000 names deriving from 37 nations and more than 70 ethno-linguistic groups. One thing that sets it apart from other name books is that it makes clear that it's not just for babies; it notes that adults have taken African names later in life. "New names can represent new stages of development," Hodari writes. "Sojourner Truth, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X)

Tina Allen, whose monumental sculptures of prominent African Americans through history -- including abolitionist Sojourner Truth and author Alex Haley -- fill public spaces across the United States, has died. She was 58. Allen died Tuesday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center of complications from a heart attack, her former husband, Roger Allen, said. She had been a resident of North Hills. Her first major commission, in 1986, set the course for her future. She made a 9-foot bronze sculpture of labor leader A. Philip Randolph, who helped organize a union for sleeping car porters in the 1920s, for a train station in Boston.

Kalisha Crone and Vera Vanderkraan both daydream about going to college and enjoy debating American history. In the spirit of competition, the two seventh-graders also love a good fight. It was only fitting, then, that the Oxnard girls were chosen co-winners of a speech contest in which top prize was a chance to address hundreds of people who attended the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration Monday, one of several held across Ventura County. "These two girls are wonderful.

HUG By Jez Alborough Candlewick: 32 pp., $14.99 With a cheerful chimp nearly as sweet as Curious George and a text of only three words, Jez Alborough celebrates the pleasure of giving and receiving good hugs, as well as the joy inherent in finding just the right word. "HUG," says a tiny chimp as he watches two lizards embrace and two pythons entwine. "HUG," he explains to a mother elephant and her baby who notice the chimp's forlorn expression. They decide to help him find what he's looking for and ride past an affectionate lion family, two giraffes and two hippos.

I agree that Sojourner Truth should be included with the Stanton, Anthony, Mott statue (April 1) but feel Lucy Stone should also be included. (For many years women who did not change their names when they married were called "Lucy Stoners," after Lucy started the practice.) She started speaking out, nationally, for abolition and woman's suffrage in 1847. She was a mentor for both Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt. Anthony was not a very good student, as she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton split the women's movement into two groups over policy differences with Stone.

A controversy over the placement of a statue in the Capitol Rotunda has escalated into a monumental battle, pitting white and black feminists in a competition to recognize women's struggle for the right to vote. The contretemps stems from a hard-won victory by a predominantly white coalition of women's rights activists to have a statue of three suffrage leaders--Lucretia Mott, Susan B.

WASHINGTON - Fourteen-year-old April Greene traveled from Murfreesboro, Tenn., with her family to watch Congress dedicate a statue of her ancestor - abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass, born a slave in 1818. "I'm his great-great-great-granddaughter," she said, counting the "greats" on her fingers. "It's an honor. " On Wednesday, other descendants and national and local officials gathered in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center for the ceremony. Douglass' statue is the fourth honoring an African American in the Capitol, after statues of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth.

Frank Sinatra's family purchased her portrait of President Kennedy. Rosa Parks asked her to design her congressional Gold Medal. And President Clinton bought her painting of Hillary. Artis Lane's sculptures and paintings are in the private collections of Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou and Nelson Mandela. She has also created works for Michael Jordan, Quincy Jones and Armand Hammer. But at 81, Lane is celebrating what may be her greatest commission.

Today, if they remember her at all, people identify Sojourner Truth as the ex-slave who dramatically bared her breasts and demanded "Ar'n't I a woman?" at a 19th century women's rights rally. In her painstakingly researched biography, Nell Irvin Painter seeks to find out "the truth about Truth." She should be applauded for bringing to a wider audience the story of this extraordinary self-made woman and for making acute observations about the myths of slavery.

With performance art's higher profile these days and the ongoing imperatives of multiculturalism, it will take a staunch--and committed--artist to take this medium to its next level. Funny and incisive, shrewd and intuitive, Joyce Guy can capture a whole world of female and African-American experience in a single gesture. Whether as co-curator of last month's Black December festival at Highways or in her numerous outings as a writer/performer, she brings a rare combination of passion, intelligence and good old-fashioned performing skills to her work--while calling forcefully into question cultural assumptions about race, gender and inequality.