This post is part of the Breathing is Brilliant reprise of the Black Feminist Breathing Chorus for Black History Month 2019.

“Sojourner Truth” named herself in honor of her journey and her purpose and her freedom.  It was one of her first acts of authorship, and though this was not the language of the time, it was one of her first steps in what is now called “building a brand.”

I kind of hate the language of “building a brand” because it makes me think of literal branding with hot metal on the flesh of human beings whose flesh was claimed like livestock.  (The branding of livestock also bothers me by the way.)  In the supposed freedom of the contemporary entrepreneurial push there are subtle and not-so-subtle linkages to slavery.  A persistent definition of personhood that commodifies everything, our time, our dreams, our emotional breakthroughs, our relationships to our children, our bodies, the images of our bodies (and images of our relationships, children, ourselves crying, our journeys) which are all infinitely “share”able (brandable?) now.  Almost all of us have consented to terms of agreement that make the actual images we share, property of huge companies that can do with them what they will.  And we have “consented” to these terms because it is how we can participate in the new marketplace of branded digital social and economic life.

Sojourner Truth was mindful of the use of her image early on.  I think often of the fact that she spent much of her life traveling to speak to audiences about her fervent beliefs in freedom, faith and the seeds of what we now call Black feminism.  And it was through these speaking gigs, the sale of her book (which she dictated because she never learned to read and write) and the sale of her image that she earned the money to buy the home where her family could have stability and reunion after emancipation.   The collage I made in honor of Sojourner Truth is called “Sankofa Substance” and it takes as its base that exact postcard that Sojourner sold at her speaking engagements.  Her critical thinking led her to communicate in words that her image had more value than the (at that time not-at all-cheap) photo printing process she engaged to create the cards, but was actually a way for those people in her audiences who wanted her to be able to continue to live and do the work she was doing in the world to support her livelihood beyond what the organizations that brought her could offer.  So the cards said “I sell the shadow to support the substance,” a rather bold proclamation for someone whose body had actually been bought and sold and abused during her enslavement.  I like to also think that “substance” speaks not only to her physical form, but also to the depth and substance of her oratory.

And now we live in the shadow world.  We share “shadows” (how Sojourner thought of photographic technology of the time) online all day long.  Those of us who make our living or market our community campaigns through online media, shadow box with the god of public opinion to support our livelihoods.   As someone who is at the beginning of a campaign to create a Mobile Homecoming growth and transformation center in Durham, which will require the support of everyone I know digitally and more, I am thinking about Sojourner Truth all the time.  We are trying to create a home where our chosen family (Black LGBTQ elders) can gather in their/our freedom.  When people support my partner and I, they are ultimately supporting the realization of that vision.

So what can we learn from Sojourner Truth now that amplifies our freedom and our faith despite the persistence of enslaving definitions of the “human”? First, we can call a shadow a shadow.  Understanding the difference between an image and lived experience, as Sojourner indicates, is key to actually building the relationships we all need to sustain our visions long-term.  Second, we can understand the multiplicity of “supporting the substance” which is not only building an economic livelihood but sustaining the meaningful existence of the communities that make our visions possible, which in my view always must happen on an intergenerational scale of continued inspiration.  And third, we can learn, like Sojourner to know that everyone we reach has a continuing relationship to our work. Our communities are not simply consumers of our oratory performances and images, they are key parts of the world we are making possible through our work to make the seemingly impossible visible and tangible.

What steps can you take today to move from branding to being? What are the tangible relationships that you want to invest in for the long-term?

Our offering to you is this Black Feminist Breathing Meditation inspired by Sojourner Truth. Take it as an opportunity to say her name, or to breathe life back into your own name and what it means for you and those who help name you.

And if you want to stay connected to Brilliance Remastered and be among the first to hear about our events and online offerings as they emerge, join the email list here.

And here are links if you want to support the Black Feminist Bookmobile Project and the ongoing work of the Mobile Homecoming Trust Living Library and Archive.

Loving you with every breath (because breathing is brilliant,)

       Sista Docta Alexis Pauline Gumbs