Edmonia Lewis

Hello! My name is Edmonia Lewis, and I was a sculptor. That means I made art out of stone. I was born around the year 1844. My father was African American, and my mother was Native American, from the Mississauga Ojibwe tribe. When I was a little girl living with my mother's family, they called me Wildfire. I loved being outdoors and making little things with my hands out of clay I found near the river.

When I grew up, I knew I wanted to be an artist more than anything. I went to a school called Oberlin College, but what I really wanted was to learn how to sculpt. Around 1864, I moved to the big city of Boston. There, I found a teacher who showed me how to work with clay. I loved it! I made sculptures of people I admired, like heroes who worked to end slavery. It was hard work, but I was so happy to be creating art that told important stories.

A few years later, in 1866, I sailed across the ocean all the way to a city called Rome, in Italy. Rome was a magical place for artists! There were so many beautiful sculptures everywhere, and I could get the most wonderful, smooth white marble to work with. I opened my very own art studio. It was exciting to be in a place where I could be myself and create any sculpture I could dream of. I worked with my own two hands, using my chisels and hammers to carve my ideas out of the big blocks of stone.

In Rome, I created my most famous sculptures. One was called 'Forever Free,' which I finished in 1867. It showed a man and a woman celebrating their freedom from slavery. Another was a very big, very grand sculpture called 'The Death of Cleopatra.' In 1876, I sent it all the way back to America for a huge fair. People came from all over to see my work. It made me so proud to know that my art was being seen and talked about by so many.

I became the first woman of African American and Native American heritage to be known all around the world as a sculptor. I lived for more than 60 years, and my life was filled with art. I passed away in the year 1907. Today, my sculptures are in museums where people can still see the stories I carved in stone. I hope my story reminds you that no matter where you come from, you can follow your dreams and create something beautiful for the world.