Untitled ("I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance")
1864-65
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 8.8 × 5.6 cm (3 1/2 × 2 1/4 in.); Mount: 10 × 6.2 cm (3 15/16 × 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
carte-de-visite (albumen)
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
238249
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in upstate New York, but she escaped with her infant daughter in 1826. Under the name Sojourner Truth, she campaigned for abolition, protections for emancipated slaves, and voting rights for African Americans and women, disseminating her message by writing several memoirs and lecturing widely to rapt audiences. Truth used photography in shrewd ways to promote her causes. She sat for her portrait several times, selling cartes de visite—small, inexpensive im...