Mary edmonia lewis biography

(1844-1907)

Who Was Edmonia Lewis?

Edmonia Lewis' first notable commercial success was a bust of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. The money she earned selling copies of the bust allowed her to sail to Rome, Italy, where she mastered working in marble.

She quickly achieved success as a sculptor. The circumstances of her death in 1907 are unclear.

Early Years

Hailed as the first professional African American and Native American sculptor, Lewis had little training but overcame numerous obstacles to become a respected artist.

Elusive when it came to personal details, Lewis claimed different years of birth throughout out her life, but research seems to indicate she was born around 1844 in upstate New York.

The daughter of a Black father and part-Ojibwa mother, she was orphaned at an early age and, as she later claimed, was raised by some of her mother's relatives.

With the support and encouragement of a successful older brother, Lewis attended Oberlin College in Ohio w