Jacqueline Bishop: Sojourner Truth | Ain’t I a Lady

ABOUT Ain’t I A Lady

More on Jacqueline Bishop HERE

Sojourner Truth | Ain’t I a Lady… is a riff on the most famous statement considered with Sojourner Truth –  “Ain’t I a Woman”. The dress is made of silk based on an iconic photograph of Sojourner Truth. The dress and scarves were sewn in Jamaica, with hand embroidery by women involved with Project Threadways in Alabama.

On view in Archives in Practice, Center for Craft, Asheville, NC

Sojourner Truth Ain’t I A Lady
2025, Silk

While researching the history of silk-making on South Carolina plantations by enslaved individuals, Jacqueline Bishop came to realize that American abolitionist and civil rights activist Sojourner Truth wove silk in Northampton, Massachusetts. Sojourner Truth Ain’t I A Lady visually represents her findings. To create this piece, she collaborated with Project Threadways, an organization dedicated to documenting, studying, and interpreting history, community, and power through the lens of fashion and textiles. Together, they embroidered flowers from Truth’s parents’ homelands in Guinea and Ghana, as well as native New York flowers, onto a scarf that accompanies a dress inspired by a photograph of Truth.

The title is inspired by Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron. This research was supported by the Center for Craft’s 2024 Craft Research Fund.

On loan from Ferrin Contemporary

RECENTLY ON VIEW

Archives in Practice

At the Center for Craft | Asheville, NC | September 12, 2025 – February 17, 2026

AVAILABLE TO TOUR

If you’d like to show Jacqueline Bishop’s “Ain’t I a Lady” at your institution, please fill out this form to begin the process. We look forward to working with you!