Mary Edmonia Lewis (ca. July 4, 1844 – September 17, 1907) was an American sculptor who worked for most of her career in Rome, Italy. She is the first woman of African-American and Native American heritage to achieve international fame and recognition as a sculptor in the fine arts world. Her work is known for incorporating themes relating to black and American Indian people into Neoclassical style sculpture. She emerged during the crisis-filled days of the Civil War, and by the end of the 19th century, she was the only black woman who had participated in and been recognized to any degree by the American artistic mainstream. In 2002, the scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Edmonia Lewis on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
Edmonia Lewis's birth date has been listed as July 4, 1844. She was born in Greenbush, New York, which is now the city of Rensselaer.
Her father was an Afro-Haitian, while her mother was of Mississauga Ojibwe and African-American descent.
Lewis's mother was known as an excellent weaver and craftswoman, while her father was a gentleman's servant.
Her family background inspired Lewis in her later work.
By the time Lewis reached the age of nine, both of her parents had died. Her two maternal aunts adopted Lewis and her older brother Samuel, who was born in 1832. The children remained with their aunts near Niagara Falls for approximately the next four years. Lewis and her aunts sold Ojibwe baskets and other souvenirs, such as moccasins and blouses, to tourists visiting Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Buffalo. During this time, Lewis went by her Native American name, Wildfire, while her brother was called Sunshine.[citation needed] In 1852 Samuel left for California, leaving Lewis in the care of a Captain S. R. Mills, although Samuel continually provided money for her board and education. Later, in 1856, Lewis enrolled at New York Central College, McGrawville, a Baptist abolitionist school.
During her summer term there in 1858, Lewis took classes in the Primary Department in order to prepare for courses she would later take in collegiate programs. In a later interview, Lewis claimed after three years at the school, she left when she was "declared to be wild."
In 1859 when Lewis was about 15 years old, her brother Samuel and abolitionists sent her to Oberlin College, where she changed her name to Mary Edmonia Lewis.
At the time, Oberlin College was one of the first higher learning institutions in the United States to admit women and people of differing ethnicities. Lewis's decision to attend Oberlin was one that would significantly change her life, as that is where she began her art studies.
Lewis boarded with Reverend John Keep and his wife from 1859 until she left the college in 1863. Reverend Keep was white and a member of the board of trustees, but was also an avid abolitionist and spokesperson for coeducation.
During the 1859-60 school year, Lewis enrolled in the Young Ladies' Preparatory Department, which was designed "to give Young Ladies facilities for the thorough mental discipline, and the special training which will qualify them for teaching and other duties of their sphere."
During winter of 1862, several months after the start of the Civil War, Edmonia Lewis was attending Oberlin College when an incident occurred between her and two classmates, Maria Miles and Christina Ennes. The three women, who boarded in the home of Oberlin trustee John Keep, planned to go sleigh riding with some young men later that day. Before the sleighing, Lewis served her friends a drink of spiced wine. Shortly after, Miles and Ennes fell severely ill. Doctors examined them and concluded that the two women had some sort of poison in their system, apparently cantharides, a reputed aphrodisiac. For a time it was not certain that they would survive. Days later, it became apparent that the two women would recover from the incident, and, because of their recovery, the authorities initially took no action.
The controversial incident rapidly spread throughout Ohio. The townspeople of Oberlin did not hold the same progressive views of the college. Prior to her six-day long trial, anti-abolitionist vigilantes physically assaulted Lewis. While she was walking home alone one night, she was dragged into an open field by unknown assailants and badly beaten. Those responsible for her injuries were never found.
Due to the attack, local authorities arrested Lewis, charging her with poisoning her friends. The college defended their student throughout the trial. John Mercer Langston, an Oberlin College alumnus, and the only practicing African-American lawyer in Oberlin, represented Lewis during her trial. Although most witnesses spoke against her and she did not testify, the jury acquitted her of the charges.
Mary Edmonia Lewi
No comments:
Post a Comment