Lewis, Edmonia

Lewis was the first African-American sculptor and woman to receive international recognition. Her mother was an Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indian and her father a freeman of African descent. She studied liberal arts at Oberlin college before she moved to Boston. There she apprenticed with the sculptor Edward Brackett until she opened a studio of her own. She moved to Rome in 1865 for nine years and returned to the United States to critical acclaim.