Edmonia Lewis: 1st Professional Black American and Native American Artist Nationally/Int’l Known

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:14]She was the first black American and Native American sculptor to achieve national and international status.

[00:00:24]Her name was Mary Edmonia Lewis aka Wildfire. So, let's begin. Atmonia Lewis was born July 4th, 1844 in upstate New York. Her mother, Katherine Mike Lewis, was Native American from the Missaga Oji Boy tribe and black American descent.

[00:00:49]She was an excellent weaver and craftsman. Black American men are mentioned in different sources as being her father. The first is Samuel Lewis who was Afrohasian and worked as a gentleman's servant. The other was a black American writer Robert Benjamin Lewis and that is the one that she shares the last name Lewis from. So we will go with Robert Benjamin Lewis in this video as her father.

[00:01:24]By the time Edmonia reached the age of nine, both her parents had died. Her two maternal aunts adopted her and her older halfbrother Samuel. They lived near Niagara Falls, New York for about 4 years. Atmonia and her aunts sold a jubilai baskets and other items such as moccasins and embroidered blouses to tourists visiting Niagara Falls, Toronto, and Buffalo.

[00:01:56]During this time, Atmonia went by her Native American name, Wildfire, while her brother was called Sunshine. In 1852, Samuel left for San Francisco, California, leaving at Mononia in the care of a Captain SR Mills. Samuel's endeavors in the California Gold Rush proved successful, and he was able to pay for Atmonia's college tuition and provided her with a living allowance.

[00:02:31]In 1856, Edmononia enrolled in a preol program at New York Central College, a Baptist abolitionist school in Mcraville, now McRo, New York.

[00:02:47]There she met many of the leading activists of her time who would become mentors, patrons, and possible subjects for her work as her artistic career developed.

[00:03:01]In a later interview, she said, quote, "Until I was 12 years old, I led this wondering life, fishing and swimming and making moccasins. I was then sent to school for 3 years in McGraville, but was declared to be wild. They could do nothing with me." End quote. In 1859, when Edmonia was about 15 years old, her brother Samuel, an abolitionist, sent her to Oberlin, Ohio, where she attended the secondary Oberlin Academy Preparatory School for the full three-year term. She then attended Oberlin Collegic Institute. In 1866, it became Overland College, one of the first colleges to admit women and people of color. She changed her name to Mary Atmonia Lewis and begin to study art.

[00:04:08]However, her time there revealed the harsh realities of racism and discrimination.

[00:04:16]She was falsely accused of poisoning two white classmates and although acquitted endured violence and hostility.

[00:04:27]A later accusation of theft which was also dismissed ultimately forced her to leave the school before completing her degree.

[00:04:38]These events became a turning point pushing Atmonia to pursue a career as an artist on her own terms. After college, Edmononia moved to Boston in early 1864 where she began to pursue her career as a sculptor. She gained support from abolitionists who recognized her talent.

[00:05:06]Finding an instructor, however, was not easy for her. Three male sculptors refused to instruct her before she was introduced to sculptor Edward Augustus Bracket, who specialized in marble portrait bus.

[00:05:26]Atmonia opened her studio to the public with her first solo exhibition in 1864.

[00:05:36]She was inspired by the lives of abolitionists as Civil War heroes. Her subjects in 1863 and 1864 included some of the most famous abolitionist of her day, John Brown and Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. She created a bus of Colonel Shaw, the commander of a black American Civil War regiment from Massachusetts. She made plaster cast reproductions of the bus and sold 100 of these copies at $15 a piece.

[00:06:20]It was her most famous work to date and the money she earned from the bus allowed her to move to Rome. Her early works proved highly popular, including medallion portraits of the abolitionist John Brown, described as her hero and William Lloyd Garrison. She drew inspiration from Henry Wodsworth Longfellow and his work, particularly his epic poem, The Song of Hayawa.

[00:06:55]Atmonia spent most of her adult career in Rome, where Italy's less pronounced racism allowed increased opportunity to a black artist.

[00:07:08]While in Rome, Atmonia continued to express her black American and Native American heritage.

[00:07:17]One of her most famous works, Forever Free, depicted a powerful image of a black American man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery.

[00:07:30]Another sculpture at Monia created was called the arrow maker, which showed a Native American father teaching his daughter how to make an arrow.

[00:07:43]Atmonia worked primarily in the neocclassical style which was popular in Europe and America during the 19th century. In 1873, an article in the New Orleans Pain stated at Mononia Lewis had snared two $50,000 commissions, which is equivalent to about 1,375,887.50 today.

[00:08:18]In Hagar in the Wilderness, which was created in 1875, she used a biblical story to symbolize the suffering and resilience of marginalized people, particularly black women. Her most famous work, The Death of Cleopatra, done in 1876, broke from traditional idolized representations by depicting the Egyptian queen at the moment of death with striking realism and emotional power. Atmonia had many major exhibitions during her rise to fame, including one in Chicago in 1870 and in Rome in 1871.

[00:09:10]As a black and indigenous woman, she faced constant skepticism about whether she could truly create such technically accomplished work. In 1877, former US President Ulysus Srant commissioned her to do his portrait. She also contribute a bust of Massachusetts abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner to the 1895 Atlanta Exposition.

[00:09:46]In the late 1880s, neocclassism declined in popularity, as did the popularity of Edmononia's work. From 1896 to 1901, Edmononia lived in Paris.

[00:10:01]She then relocated to London, England before her death. Edmonia never married and had no known children.

[00:10:11]According to her death certificate, the cause of her death was chronic kidney failure, which was known at the time as Bright's disease.

[00:10:23]She is buried in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in London, England.

[00:10:29]Like many black artists of the 19th century, her contributions were largely overlooked until modern scholars rediscovered her work and restored her place in history.

[00:10:45]In 2017, a GoFundMe by East Greenbush, New York town historian Bobby Reno was successful and atmonia Lewis's grave was restored in London, England. Oberlin College awarded her a degree posthumorously in 2022. Hats off to Miss Ammonia Lewis, who broke barriers as a black and Native American sculptor, gaining international recognition for her powerful marble works. Working primarily in marble, she brought powerful storytelling to life through works like Forever Free and The Death of Cleopatra, highlighting themes of freedom, identity, and resilience.

[00:11:36]And thank you so much for watching.