Akron civic leaders break ground on memorial plaza to honor Sojourner Truth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGkxu9fJ5o Carl Bachtel has more on the new Sojourner Truth Memorial Plaza in Akron

“I know she’s just as much their grandmother and their ancestor as she is mine.”

That grandmother Cory McKliechey speaks of? Sojourner Truth. Dignitaries gathered Wednesday outside the aptly named Sojourner Truth Building in Akron for a very special groundbreaking.

The area next to the offices of United Way of Summit & Medina will soon be transformed into a memorial plaza, honoring Truth. Her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech echoed from this spot in 1851.

The Sojourner Truth Memorial Plaza will be the first historic site in the state of Ohio that recognizes the contributions of a Black woman in American history.

“My direct inspiration was her life,” explains landscape architect Dion Harris. “There’s so much history with that and so much to make us proud.”

The plaza has been a long time coming. Collaboration and hard work have finally made this concept a reality.

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