Sojourner Truth Social Justice Award Winners 2023
Kaz Andrews, Northampton HS. Creative Director for annual Generation Ratify Banner Drop in downtown Northampton. Co-instructor on the Equal Rights Amendment for Truth School for Social Change Leadership. After a gap year, plans to pursue scientific research on the LGBTQ+ community to influence legislative and social change. “While Sojourner Truth did not speak specifically about the Equal Rights Amendment she believed in the ideas [it] would implement.”
Dahlia Breslow, Northampton HS. Co-chair, Northampton Youth Commission working with city council, mayor, & legal team on amendment to lower the voting age, national VOTE16Movement. Attending Tufts University, majoring in political science. “Her words demonstrated the necessity of uniting the Black and female social movements at a time when many prominent women’s rights leaders promoted racist and politically motivated beliefs. Like Sojourner Truth, I believe political participation empowers.”
Victor Cruz-Castro, Amherst Pelham HS. President, People of Color United, Poetry Hub, Latinos Unidos clubs; JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion) Committee of Amherst Survival Center. “Sojourner lived through a scary truth that I will never understand, she fought for her family, fled her life, and fought the man, and yet she is not remembered enough. Through the values she had, we see many people try and replicate them now. Except, it’s our own stories and experiences.”
La’Tasia Love, Springfield Central HS. Air Force JROTC since freshman year. Oversees community service events; works with low-income youth. Educational goal is to get master’s degree in clinical psychology, specializing in inner-city youth. “Sojourner Truth was not afraid to be the voice of change in her day . . . She knew that women’s rights and abolition could occur simultaneously.”
Aria M. Norman-Gesuelle, Northampton HS. Youth leader in Youth for Equity and Action, working with Northampton Prevention Coalition. Planning to experience a different culture through college study and activism in New Orleans. “I feel that my work is for inclusivity and Sojourner Truth’s ideals were to create a more just, fair, equal and loving society that accepted one another.”
Ursa Sekou Shabazz, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Public Charter School. Neurodiversity Student Union, Black Student Union, general manager and audio tech for BSU open mics shows. Taking a gap year saving for degree or certificate in justice work. “Like Sojourner Truth I know first hand what it means to be a mind misjudged, a body belittled and a woman not seen as a woman at all.”
Catherine Thompson, Springfield Central HS. Women’s Bodily Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement. Key Club President, Civic Engagement Event Organizer for Pioneer Valley Project, internship, Teen Advocacy Board Member, Girls Inc. of the Valley, Fellowship with On the Move. Seeking a degree in political science or sociology at Johns Hopkins University. “Seeing all the justice that Truth has achieved inspires me to continue to fight for women’s rights, civil rights and voting rights.”
