Edmonia Lewis
Illustration inspired by Edmonia Lewis, Minnehaha, 1868, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Edmonia Lewis (1844-1907) was an internationally-known American sculptor born to a Chippewa mother and Haitian father. She attended Oberlin and first gained notoriety and commercial success as a sculptor in Boston. There in her studio, she created clay medallions of renowned abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown, and busts of Civil War heroes. Lewis later traveled and worked overseas, living and creating more monumental marble work in Rome. Her sculpture, Minnehaha, was part of a series she did based on Longfellow’s epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha.