Edmonia Lewis

A mixed-race lesbian is credited with sculptures depicting freedom and independence.

By Kevin Trimell Jones - Philadelphia Gay News

Edmonia Lewis

Mixed-race lesbian is known for sculpting freedom and independence

Edmonia Lewis stands out for her courage and willingness to live a life defined by her own sense of independence. She is considered one of a few African-American artists to develop a fan base that crossed racial, ethnic and national boundaries — and the first to develop a reputation as an acclaimed sculptor, which would later give her access to circles that generally excluded people of color and women.

While many have speculated about her sexuality — given her close associations with women and her androgynous style of dress — Lewis was a transformational figure who used her art form to capture the historical legacies of women, African Americans and other figures central to black culture and the American Civil War.

Historians believe that Lewis was born near Albany, N.Y., in 1843. Her mother was a Chippewa Indian; her father a freeman of African descent.

Lewis attended Oberlin College in Ohio with the help of her brother who was considered a successful gold miner. Oberlin College had developed a reputable for promoting diversity and inclusion. It was the nation's first coeducation and interracial college, and had enrolled African Americans along white students since 1835.

Lewis is believed to have been a part of a few notable, possibly romantic and sexual, incidents with other females.

Moses, 1872

An early "peculiar episode" is described in "African American Art and Artist" as taking place in 1862. According to the story, Oberlin College was in recess. Two female friends of Lewis were preparing for a sleigh ride with two of their male friends. Before the departure, Lewis invited her females classmates to her room for a "drink of hot spiced wine, which medical testimony later indicated contained an aphrodisiac called cantharides."

After the classmates became dangerously ill, suffering from stomach and other physical ailments, Lewis was accused of "poisoning" them. Her relationships with top Oberlin College administrators preserved her from arrest. One night, however, Lewis was kidnapped, dragged into an open field and brutally beaten. There was no official investigation into the beating, and the incident nearly shattered the sense of racial harmony in this integrated town.

Lewis was spared from criminal charges due to insufficient evidence presented during the preliminary hearing: "... Most people believed that, if Edmonia had in fact served the drug to the young women, her intent was more likely to promote sexual stimulation than to poison."

While this incident likely took a toll on Lewis, she stayed at Oberlin College until she finished her coursework in 1864. She had considered leaving "white society" because she found it too restrictive when compared to her earlier upbringing that honored Native American cultures and traditions.

After leaving Ohio, Lewis went Boston. In a 1959 edition of The New England Quarterly Margaret Farrand Thorp described Lewis' beginnings in Boston with the following:

"The story goes that, entering the strange town alone, she wandered about and finally sat down on the steps of City Hall to munch the dry crackers which was all her slender resources allowed her for lunch. Gazing about her, bewildered but by no means in despair, her eye was caught by Richard Greenough's stature of Benjamin Franklin. A statue of the size of life was something that she had never seen or heard of. That a great man of the past could be made to live for her seemed very wonderful. Could she perhaps learn to perform such as act of creation?"

Old Arrow Maker, 1875

With letters of recommendation from Oberlin College and addressed to William Lloyd Garrison and other abolitionists, she set out to learn the art of sculpting. These figures would help inspire her creative style and influence her views on independence and personal freedoms.

Lewis created notable pieces that tell the struggles of African Americans and women in varying quests for freedom and independence.

Lewis created a bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who led the all-black Civil War unit known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. This group of fighters was part of the first group of black men recruited in the North. The regiment experienced 272 casualties during an assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina, including the life of Shaw.

Lewis sold 100 copies of the Shaw bust during a Soldier's Relief Fair that was held in Boston. The funds helped finance Lewis' trip and eventual relocation from America to Rome.

In 1878, Lewis told the New York Times that she "was practically driven to Rome in order to obtain the opportunities for art-culture, and to find a social atmosphere where [she] was not constantly reminded of my color."

While living in Europe, Lewis further developed her international acclaim by learning Greco-Roman sculpting styles from renowned sculptors living in Europe. This would influence her neoclassical-inspired pieces.

In Rome, she joined the circle of American expatriates and artists, including American stage actress and sculptor Charlotte Cushman, sculptor Harriet Hosmer and other women in their circle. Her friends in Boston encouraged Cushman and Hosmer to accept Lewis into their sisterhood of artists.

Novelist Henry James referred to this group derogatorily as the "White Marmorean Flock," as most in the circle were known for having same-sex relationships, including Lewis. The women were highly influential in the way that Lewis carried out her life.

According to "Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland," "Lewis emulated both the outward attributes of their unconventional, often masculine attire, as well as their aesthetic independence."

Lewis returned to the United States in 1874 with a great amount of notoriety, especially for a woman of mixed heritage and of African descent.

In 1876, she was one of a few women sculptors invited to participate and exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, which was the first official World Fair to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The historical record of the life and legacy of Lewis is still being discovered and written. While the date and location of her death are still debated, her legacy is unquestionable. -E

Kevin Trimell Jones is founder and lead curator for the Black LGBT Archivists Society of Philadelphia. He is a behavior researcher at University of Pennsylvania, has served as a trainer for the Gay Men's Health Leadership Academy and is a founder of the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council.