Sojourner Truth

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

On this day 162 years ago, anti-slavery and woman's rights leader Sojourner Truth would deliver her "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, saying, in part:

" Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place!"