Smithsonian Podcast: There's More to That

Smithsonian magazine covers history, science and culture in the way only it can — through a lens on the world that is insightful and grounded in richly reported stories. In There’s More to That, meet the magazine’s journalists and hear how they discover the forces behind the biggest issues of our time.

Subscribe

Listen to There's More to That for free using your favorite podcast platform.

February 22, 2024 | 38:04

How to Separate Fact From Myth in the Extraordinary Story of Sojourner Truth

The facts of Sojourner Truth’s life are both inspiring and complex. But many people, both in Truth’s lifetime and in the approximately 140 years since her death, have found it useful to recast Truth as they wish to remember her instead of as she was. There’s no better example of this than “Ain’t I a woman?,” the hypothetical that Truth supposedly put to the audience when she addressed a women’s rights convention in 1851 in Akron, Ohio — the city where a public plaza will be dedicated in her honor this spring. There’s reason to doubt she said that, or at least that she said it in that way.

In this episode, we hear from two historians who’ve dug deep into Truth’s complicated legacy and challenged much of what’s been written about about this American icon.

Read Transcript >