This carte de visite depicts Sojourner Truth. The photograph on her lap is of her grandson, James Caldwell of Co. H, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Born into slavery in 1799 as Isabella Baumfree on a New York estate, Truth was subjected to the violence and deprivations of enslavement, including separation from the person she loved and a forced marriage. She liberated herself in 1827. She became an itinerant preacher and nationally known as one of the most powerful advocates for abolition and women’s suffrage.  She changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843.