NOW
AVAILABLE: The Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia
Lewis. A Narrative Biography, by
Harry Henderson (co-author of A History of African American Art from
1792 to the Present) and Albert Henderson, winner of the eLit GOLD award:
"Illuminating Digital Publishing Excellence." Independent
Opinion: "The Hendersons’ monument of research and
craftsmanship seeks to give Lewis the consideration that she has been
denied—not dissimilar to the artist’s own commitment to proving her
competitors and critics wrong, demonstrating that a minority could take on the
hegemonic tradition of fine arts. The book provides crystalline accounts of
Lewis’s feuds and mentorships, as well as rich illustrations of the works
being discussed throughout. Overall, the authors deliver a well-constructed mix
of primary resources, critical analysis and literary flourishes." - Kirkus
Reviews. "Thank you so much for your excellent research ... Your
work on Edmonia Lewis will be used for many years to come by scholars, art
historians, art collectors and anyone interested in knowing more about this
outstanding woman" - Dr. Sheryl Colyer. "Lewis’s
story is all at once interesting and sad. Her life, while forgotten for a while
is now making a come back among art historians and this immense work helps to
secure her artistic legacy." Lifelong Dewey "A key
acquisition for any arts or African-American history holding. The authors'
attention to precise scholarship provides all the details of a solid linear
history and biography but the end result is anything but dry: it reads with the
passion and drama of good literature." Midwest Book Review
"A definitive biography" Washington Times ""
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Contents |
BLOG - Searching for Edmonia LewisSt. Louis Globe InterviewThe Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia Lewis recounts the unusual circumstances of 1873 that led to her visit with Antoinette and James Peck Thomas in St. Louis, Missouri, and to the terrible aftermath that dogged their good intentions. Edmonia Lewis's portrait bust of J.P. Thomas, which is now at Oberlin College's Allen Art Museum, has been well known for many years. However, the circumstances of its origin have been a mystery. After years of searching, we discovered the 'lost' text of an interview done in the Thomas home. A good deal of the article appears to have been lifted from HOW EDMONIA LEWIS BECAME AN ARTIST. But its uniqueness is evident in the excerpts: Our reporter was shown into the parlor by Mr. Thomas and soon seated himself on a sofa near the blazing hearth. The room was lit by gas, elegantly furnished, and about as pleasant a place for a gossipy talk as could be desired. Miss Lewis entered the room in a few minutes, and sat down on a chair near the fireside. Without putting any more directed questions than were necessary, the Globe man induced Miss Lewis to speak of her early days, her first leaning toward art, and her crowning triumphs. … [William Lloyd Garrison] gave me an introduction to Mr. Brackett, an artist, and he gave me a lump of clay and a little baby’s foot. He asked me to work at it. I asked if I might stay there, and he said “No.” I went to my little room and made a foot out of the clay as well as I could. I took it to Mr. Brackett, and every time I did so he broke it up, until three weeks had passed. He then seemed really pleased with my work, and gave me a lady’s hand to do. I worked on the lady’s hand, and got on nicely. Then I worked on a medallion. I had medallions of John Brown, and sold them at anti-slavery meetings. Dr. Bowdrege [Henry I Bowditch], of Boston, gave me an order to make a medallion of his father, who was an old navigator. He gave me twenty-five dollars for it. It was my first order. Then I made a bust of Voltaire. About that time I got a studio, PUT OUT MY SHINGLE, And called myself an artist, although my friends laughed at me for it. I then made a bust of Colonel Shaw, the first officer who led the colored troops South. He fell at Fort Wagner. I made that bust from photographs, and the family were very much pleased with it….. Miss Lewis is below the medium height, and is rather heavy set, though well proportioned. She has rather a full face, good-natured features, which are radiant with the smiles of a pleasant disposition. The simplicity and artlessness of her nature are apparent in all she says. Her conversation is affable, graceful and winning….. Miss Lewis has recently returned from California, and will soon proceed to Rome, where she has a studio, and where she keeps four workmen regularly employed in preparing the marble for her statuary. In conversation she expressed her earnest sympathy with the colored people in their aspirations for the attainment of intelligent progress. She made some mirthful illusions to the squaws that she saw on the plains in coming from California, and said she would have been pleased to go with them if she could have followed her profession. She was afraid, however, that they would have broken her statuary as soon as they had a war dance. The lady has crossed the Atlantic eight times and does not seen appalled at the prospect of having to sail over its stormy waters once more, even at the depth of winter. Our reporter brought his visit to a close, after having spent a half hour in a most agreeable conversation. In conclusion, it may be added that Miss Lewis has been engaged to furnish a statue of the Blessed Virgin in marble for St. Elizabeth’s Church, in this city. Note: St. Elizabeth’s Church was organized by Bishop Patrick Ryan to serve St. Louis African-American Catholics citywide. The 1st building was dedicated on May 18, 1873, at Fourteenth and Gay Streets. J.P. Thomas and his wife [who served as the first Parish organist] were probably founding members. In 1912, it moved to 2721 Pine Street where the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament opened a school nearby. The Parish no longer exists. The Archdiocese of St. Louis Archives could not provide documents concerning the ***"Blessed Virgin***". However, the St. Louis County Library furnished a 1939 photo from the Parish’s Diamond Jubilee wherein such a statue appears behind the Sisters. Detail of the photo appears from time to time on our Twitter feed @andthatrhymeswi. Referring to another statue of the
Virgin by Edmonia Lewis, a Baltimore newspaper reported, “the sculptor’s idea in having the arm
pointing down was to show that the Virgin looks after the women of the
world.”
© Albert Henderson 2019 Frederick Douglass 1873Frederick Douglass met Edmonia Lewis during her college days and followed her career for the rest of his life. Eventually, on a tour of Europe and North Africa with his wife, he found her in Rome [1883] and made a special note of her address in his diary. Notably, he left us an editorial about her, written in 1873, the year she went to California. Bozeman, MontanaIn researching Edmonia Lewis’s brother, Samuel, we reported 1870 US census data showing he shared his dwelling with a woman named Lizzie Williams. This corroborated Edmonia’s complaint to Anne Whitney described in our biography. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle recently learned what happened to Lizzie Williams. The Chronicle further revealed she became one of Edmonia’s benefactors. Then, what happened to the house Edmonia's brother built and lived in? “ Discovering Lizzie Williams and Bozeman’s lost black history” Samuel W. Lewis’s historic house and Eileen Tenney Discovery News: Edmonia Lewis’s work dedicated to Gerrit Smith found in upstate New York.Gerrit Smith was one of the wealthiest men in New York State, an Underground Railroader, and an abolitionist who gave generously to anti-slavery interests, including the colleges Edmonia attended at McGraw and Oberlin. On June 7, 1872, Edmonia Lewis sailed into New York harbor aboard the French Line SS St. Laurent. She would return to Rome, as noted in our biography, in mid-Fall. From Smith’s diary* we see Edmonia visited him for more than a week in August at Peterboro, NY. She had been encouraged by Smith's friends to sculpt his portrait but found him surprised and uncomfortable with the idea. Instead, they agreed to a cast of the hands of Smith and his wife [the former Ann Carroll Fitzhugh]. After Edmonia returned to Rome, she carved it in marble. According to the 1878 biography of Smith, by O. B. Frothingham, “Hand in hand [Smith and his wife] went through life together, sharing and counseling, and supporting. The union was perfect.” William Lloyd Garrison eulogized, “If ever two souls were perfectly mated, it was surely so with them.” The clasped hands are at the Madison County Historical Society (MCHS), 435 Main Street, Oneida, NY 13421 (315-363-4136). Thanks to Donna Burdick, Smithfield Town Historian, for her valuable assistance in assembling these facts. *"A Great Citizen. The Life of Gerrit Smith," by Charles Edwin Perkins. Chapter 28. Unity: Freedom, Fellowship and Character in Religion. (Chicago) Vol. 75, March 25, 1915. p. 58-61. Insolent Discovery
From Athens OH, August 8th, 1876 … re: Miss Edmonia Lewis. "This lady
can be seen in the building at almost any time. She is Italian and
African and has become very independent and somewhat insolent. She asks
$30,000 for this piece. . . ." “Centennial – Retrospectively,” by Marsh, Athens OH Messenger, August 27, 1876. Poets and Edmonia LewisEdmonia Lewis often connected with poets and poetry — an aspirational ideal of her neoclassical cohort.. Early on, in 1864, she inspired poet Anna Quincy Waterson to publish a sonnet titled “EDMONIA LEWIS, (The young colored woman who has successfully modelled the bust of Colonel Shaw).” It began: “She has wrought well with her unpractised hand.” The line was soon quoted by Lydia Maria Child in the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Lewis remained friends with Waterston and her husband for many years, eventually producing a small memorial bust of their daughter, Helen. It's all in our biography of Lewis. Soon, the best-selling epic poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow inspired the sculptor. Upon her arrival in Rome, she illustrated it with two groups, "The Old Arrow-Maker and his Daughter" (also called “The Wooing of Hiawatha”), and “The Wedding of Hiawatha” (both 1866). Two years later, she extended the line with “Hiawatha” and “Minnehaha” as marble busts. According to critic Tuckerman, these were considered the authentic product of “the Indian girl” who toiled with hammer and chisel. The most popular and commercially successful of Lewis’s works, they can be found in many collections today. In 1869, Longfellow visited Rome. Lacking a formal introduction, Lewis captured his image as he made his way in public places. In Paris, 1893, Lewis produced a life-size bronze bust of Phillis Wheatley, commissioned by fans in Pittsburgh for the Columbian World's Fair. More than 100 years after Lewis's death, Vivian Shipley found inspiration to ponder the artist's desire for respect. “How Edmonia Lewis's ‘Death of Cleopatra Speaks to Me’" was published in 2010 in “All Your Messages have been Erased.” (Louisiana Literature Press) http://library.stmarytx.edu/ylr/shipley.htm Most recently, Tyehimba Jess released a remarkable series of poems in an issue (38/3) of “Callaloo” a journal of literature, art, and culture of the African Diaspora. “Edmonia Lewis, Provenance and: Minnehaha, Marble, 1868, Edmonia Lewis and: Indian Combat, and: Indian Combat, Marble, 1868, Edmonia Lewis and: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Marble, 1864, Edmonia Lewis and: My Name is Sissieretta Jones, and: Sissieretta Jones, Carnegie Hall, 1902, O patria mia” "to resurrect our embattled / lives lived just as her own:" — from "Edmonia Lewis... Indian Combat." “I’m her stone arrow, / her refusal to bow.” — from "Edmonia Lewis...Minnehaha." More at http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/callaloo/v038/38.3.jess.pdf Two years earlier, Jess published a thoughtful consideration of Lewis’s “Hagar in the Wilderness: ” “My God is the living God, / God of the impertinent exile.” Check with our "links" page for online connections to Lewis's works. ADDENDUM: The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Poetry is Tyehimba Jess, for Olio, "a distinctive work that melds performance art with the deeper art of poetry to explore collective memory and challenge contemporary notions of race and identity." Many of the collected poems focus on Edmonia Lewis and her works. Discovery News1893: Noah G. Hoffman, director of the Mark Rothko Southwest History Project, reported that while visiting a Chicago area shop, he discovered a pair of previously undocumented statuettes that appear to be the work of Edmonia Lewis. Ten inches tall and bronze, they show***Indian hunters,*** male and female. He observed initials that appear to be “EL” under the base as well as a residue from plaster molds. The scene depicts returning from a hunt. The male figure carries a small deer and a rabbit over his shoulder. The female is touching an arrow, carried in a quiver on her back, with her right hand. Although we are inclined to consider these as a late extension of Lewis’s highly successful illustrations (1866-1868) of Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha, we note the poem did not portray women hunting with men. Lewis, who claimed to have been born in a wigwam, often emphasized her “wild” childhood. She also produced images of other Indians, including “my uncle, Sunrise.” (Cf. Henderson & Henderson, The Indomitable Spirit … “6. THE HAITIAN CONNECTION”) Lewis worked with bronze around 1893, when she lived in Paris. (ibid. “Colored Women Go to Chicago, 1893”) She made a life-size bronze bust of Phillis Wheatley for the Columbian Exposition. Perhaps Hoffman’s finds were prepared for that show, which catalogued her work merely as “statuettes.” Mr. Hoffman continues to research them. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203157935205525&set=p.10203157935205525&type=1
1875: Referring to Edmonia Lewis’s 1875 American visit, we wrote, “We found no further trace of the statues she brought to St. Paul.” (Cf. Henderson & Henderson, The Indomitable Spirit … “Back to the Frontier – Saint Paul, 1875”). We can report a valuable breakthrough. Writing in the St. Paul Daily Globe in 1883, Minnesota journalist W. B. Wilcoxon briefly described one of the works Edmonia Lewis left in Saint Paul: “An old friend in ***‘Cold Beth’*** a beautiful sculpture.” He reminisced, “She exhibited her works or rather placed them on exhibition, but no one came to see them” Then he noted two sales. Unfortunately, the papers of Archbishop John Ireland, who arranged Lewis’s exhibit, were destroyed after his death. Newspapers of the time gave us little. We can hope, however, for more revelations from the Twin Cities. Thanks to the Library of Congress for “Chronicling America” and its coverage of rare newspapers. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025287/1883-07-15/ed-1/seq-3.pdf
1899: The Saint Paul Appeal, A National Afro-American Newspaper, April 15, confirmed a visit by Edmonia Lewis to Chicago. Perhaps on her last tour here, she stayed for a time with Mrs. Mary Washington, 2806 Wabash Ave., Chicago. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016810/1899-04-15/ed-1/seq-4/ We previously noted the arrival of "Miss E. Lewis, spinster" on the Umbria (Cunard) at New York from Liverpool on Sept. 18, 1898. (Cf. Henderson & Henderson, The Indomitable Spirit … “Brooklyn, New York – 1898”). A.H. 5/1/14 Earliest Portrait of Edmonia LewisThe Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) has a copy of the original photo, part of its uncatalogued Carte de Visite Collection. Marilyn Richardson reproduced it with her article, “Taken from Life,”* which is where I came across it. An MHS librarian kindly described the logo on back of the photo. It reads, “Marshall Photographer 147 Tremont St. Boston.” Augustus Marshall must have taken it no later than 1865, the year Lewis turned 21 and sailed for Europe. He and Lewis were neighbors at the Studio Building (Tremont and Bromfield). The 1865 Boston Directory put her in studio 89 and him next door in studio 90. Earlier, she hired him to make a photo of her bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, which she sold and/or gave away with the blessing of the Shaw family 1864-65.** Thanks to MHS for preserving this photo and to Lewis-biographer Marilyn Richardson for finding and reproducing it. * in Hope & Glory. Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, ed. By M.H. Blatt, et al. (U. Mass. Press, 2001). **preserved by MHS and reproduced in our book, fig. 4. April 9, 2014 See also "Finding Edmonia Lewis," about a recent discovery by the Walters Museum See also Auction Values March 29, 2018, Swann Galleries offering a previously unknown image of Lewis, apparently from around the same time as our "earliest."
Hygeia at Mount Auburn CemeteryEdmonia
Lewis’s Hygeia is the subject of a Preservation Award to
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge Ma, Feb. 1, 2014 A Minefield of Misinformation
Foremost among my reasons for creating this free web site [www.edmonialewis.com] was to counter the minefield of misinformation we found on Edmonia Lewis. Widely celebrated in her time (ca. 1864-1880), she toured the U.S. annually and gave many interviews to the press, her work was taken up by critics, and a number of letter writers reported conversations with her. By 1876, as a symbol more powerful than her Emancipation themes carved in stone, she was the only person of color invited to exhibit at the Centennial. Yet, her long correspondence with her brother was not to be found. Few records confirmed her birth and accounts of her early years. Her last years she shrouded in mystery. Her story has been an elusive subject for everyone interested in her life. We could understand that 19th-century journalists working under deadline made errors. Once printed, however, flubs spread worse than gossip. “Fact checks” by editorial minions did not exist until the mass-market magazines of the 20th century made them a point of pride. Moreover, even modern historians missed corrections, such as the Boston Transcript’s note that Lewis’s plaster portrait of Col. Shaw did not appear on Nov. 11, 1864, but a few days later and at the National Sailor’s Fair, not the Colored Soldiers’ Fair. A particular problem is an English writer’s reference to “Greenhigh in Ohio” as Lewis’s place of birth. Originally titled “A Negro Sculptress,” the article, which appeared 1866 in the Athenaeum, was so sensational it was widely reprinted. There is no “Greenhigh in Ohio!” “Greenbush, NY” appears on her sworn passport application and is confirmed by references to nearby Albany in various interviews. “Greenhigh” seems like typographic error combined with confusion. Misbegotten in 1866, the typo spread like a drug-resistant germ. Writers also mangled other names, turning Edmonia into “Edmond,” “Ida-Ida,” “Endora,” “Edmorna,” and “Demonia” -- even Lewis into “Lexis” and “Edwards.” One made Wild Fire “Wildflower,” Other artists suffered as well: Brackett was “Becket,” Tadolini became “Tadile,” Oberlin became “Oblin.” Full-text OCR conversions of 19th-century publications added captcha-like challenges to the mess. Do not bother looking for a birth certificate. Greenbush Village (now part of Rensselaer) did not start keeping such records until 1871, according to local historian Charles Semowich. In the 1880s, a short biographical article incorrectly gave 1845 as the year of her birth. The error was repeated by others for more than 100 years. While Lewis habitually misrepresented her age to sea captains and the press, she left a sworn passport application with her approximate date of birth: “on or about July 4, 1844.” A state census taken in May 1865 posted her age as 20, a confirmation of sorts but subject to miscalculation if not examined with care.
After her unfair scandals and dismissal, most of Oberlin College’s student files on Lewis mysteriously disappeared, secretly burned to protect reputations, we suspect. Yet printed catalogs, newspapers, and other sources remain to prove her enrollment there.
In 1907, Lewis quietly died as “Mary Lewis, age 42” in London, England. She was one of many “Mary Lewis’s” in the death index and of misleading age. Her death notice, published in London’s weekly Catholic news, cited her origin as Rome rather than the United States. Uninformed writers carelessly posted “sightings” in 1909 and 1911, leading to the false death dates that wormed their way into nearly all catalogs and reference books. Our discovery of the truth, recounted elsewhere in this blog, was unexpected.
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Lesser errors must also be noted:
Several
newspapers misreported her first sailing for Europe as August 19,
1865. Yet her passport application was sworn days later, in Boston
on August 21! How
Edmonia Lewis Became an Artist,
Lewis’s promotional pamphlet, which we consider authentic and
accurate on this point, declared she sailed on August 26.
A
reporter
for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin who wrote she spent her
first twelve years in Michigan
must have confused her with the Indian agent and author, H. R.
Schoolcroft, who inspired Longfellow’s epic poem. Her interviews
clearly refer to New York State and Canada.
Even Lydia Maria Child erred, dating their first meeting as 1862 – a year when Lewis was still at Oberlin – in the Detroit Broken Fetter (1865).
Her brother, Samuel, was born 1832 in Haiti, but we found no support for claims that his father was born there or that she was of Haitian stock.
Oberlin College’s 75th anniversary 1833-1908 catalogue posted Lewis as married to an older graduate who had vanished while she was still a child.
Some credited William Wetmore Story with mentoring her in Rome. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Others
suggested she carved the government-funded memorial bust of the AME Church
founder, Richard Allen. A well-connected white businessman got the
contract. Worse
than errors were false “facts” with an air of malice against her
gender, color, class, and perhaps her religion. A series of false
reports -- $50,000 commissions, marriage, masculine appearance, gruff
voice, etc. -- are noted in the Epilogue, chapter 3 (“Spite”) of The Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia Lewis.
We
also confess to and apologize for an error based on vagaries of documents
studied in preparation for A History of African American Artists from 1792. Inferences drawn
from Canadian government records pointed to a likely grandfather -- “a
colr man named Lewis” -- who married a Mississauga woman named Mike. Far
too late to adjust that text, we found Jane and Catherine Mike, the
daughters of John and Caty Mike, at ages 15 and 6, respectively, in the
1851 Census. They were obviously too young to have married and borne a
child in 1844.
I
cannot claim our web site or biography has solved the problem. On August 8, 2008, Google
reported ‘“Greenhigh” + “Edmonia”’ got 30 results. As hardy as
the cockroach, the combination came up 374 times today! It seems growing
numbers of writers feel obliged to keep “Greenhigh” alive.
Hopefully, it also means more people have taken notice of our hero. –
A. H. 1/7/14 In
1862, Edmonia Lewis suffered a near-mortal beating near Oberlin College.
She was the lone colored student, an upper-classman among a dozen
boarders in the home of College founder Rev. John Keep. She had suffered
accusations by two freshman girls from nearby villages, fellow boarders,
of poisoning them with an aphrodisiac as they embarked on a romantic
hayride with two sailors. According to newspapers and other sources, she
had offered them wine before they departed, but she did not drink it
herself. The
community was divided on the question of her guilt. According to John
Mercer Langston's biography, "The major part of the colored
people themselves ... did pronounce her guilty in advance." At
a hearing in front of two judges, he ably defended her she was acquitted of any crime for lack of
evidence. A year later, more accusations stymied her plans for
graduation as the college’s Lady Principal refused to readmit her for
the summer term. Frustrated, she hung around Oberlin for months, perhaps
hoping for reinstatement. Then she departed as more accusations came her
way. Edmonia
Lewis was an outsider all her life – but unstoppable thanks to what
one of her fans called her “indomitable spirit.” In spite of a
society that would deny her gifts (as a woman and person of color of low
birth), she opened a sculpture studio in Rome. She returned to the
United States annually with her art, determined to face down every
insult and intimidation – few of which were recorded. Her work today
appears in the collections of major museums and important collectors. The
Edmonia
Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People at Oberlin
College was named after the former Oberlin student. It is "a
collective of students, staff, and administrators who strive to
transform existing systems of oppression based on sex, gender, race,
class, sexuality, age, ability, size, religion, nationality, ethnicity,
and language." 10/17/13 -- A. H. 1. That they still inhabit the
quarter assigned them by Pope Paul IV in the middle of the sixteenth
century; that in 1847, being petitioned, Pius IX allowed some of them to
remove to the neighboring countries; that said favor was proclaimed to
them from the criminal tribunal. 3. They are not allowed to bear
witness in any civil matter against a Christian. 5. The being a Jew excludes
him, by prescription of law, from almost all civil rights, and deprives
him of a scientific, artistic, or literary career. He has no access to
academy, college, or lyceum, and is only admitted to the Roman
university by a special permission, and that by the medical faculty,
after having proved himself accomplished by means of private lessons
from professors duly authorized. When prepared for his profession, the
candidate is forbidden to practise among Christians, notwithstanding
that Sextus V. modified that law admitting Jewish physicians in perilous
times into the pontifical court, and even into the presence of the pope.
One of the most celebrated of these was the Rabbi Samuel Sarfadi,
physician to Pope Julius II. 6. In addition to the
above, the Jew may not practise any art, nor have any profession; so
that he is absolutely reduced to obtain his living by trading. They are
stigmatized as a nation of merchants. What else can they be in Rome ? 7/14/2013 -- A.H. Other
frustrating lines of inquiry concerned proposed commissions, such as a
***soldiers’ memorial for Manchester VT*** and a memorial to John Brown,
Edmonia’s great hero, in Chicago. The latter we mentioned in our biography.
Our investigation of the soldiers’ memorial for Manchester (Rutland
VT Daily Globe, Mar. 24, 1874) found Larkin G. Mead was also
interested (Daily Globe, Nov. 6, 1874) in the commission. Five
years later, a news story announced, “Six Knights Templar from our
village joined the procession at Manchester last week at the dedication
of the soldiers’ monument,” (Brattleboro Phoenix, Sept. 19,
1879). Unfortunately, details continue to elude us. The work of Italian
marble (initially proposed) may have deteriorated under harsh weather
conditions. And why Italian marble, when Vermont has an abundant supply? If
Edmonia received the commission, her work must be lost. A granite figure
credited to local businessman W. H. Fullerton, erected in 1897 and
dedicated in 1905, stands on the Manchester VT town green, according to The
Mighty Fallen: Our Nation’s Greatest War Memorials, by Larry Bond
and f-stop Fitzgerald, HarperCollins, 2007. -- A.H. 5/26/13 3/22/13 Being
quirky when answering the public and the press is a defensive means to
deflect scrutiny and assert control. In recent times, Bob Dylan, the
Beatles, and others seemed to take pride in shooting down sincere (but
sometimes poorly worded) questions. As
an ‘outsider’ wary of the press, but needing publicity, Edmonia
sometimes played the ‘noble savage.’ She emphasized her orphaned
childhood and early years among the Indians and earned the nickname
‘Indian girl.’ In Rome, 1866, she told the Englishman who
interviewed her, “I was … sent to school for three years in M’Graw,
but was declared to be wild – they could do nothing with me. Often
they said to me, ‘Here is your book, the book of Nature; come and
study it.’” Actually,
her record at New York Central College, McGraw NY, reflected good
behavior and earnest attention to her studies. 1856-7
Academics Mary
E. Lewis
Subjects: Standing
3 Conduct
97 Attendance
99 Grammar
70 Arithmetic
96 Reading
99 Gram.
Of Comp.
90 Declamation
100 No
date at top of page Mary
E. Lewis
Subjects: Standing
3 Conduct
100 Attendance
100 Grammar
85 Gram.
Of Comp.
90 Declamation
100 Summer
term 1858 Academics Mary
E. Lewis
Subject Conduct
100 Arith.
98.99 Drawing
100.100 French
100.100 Composition
100.100 Declamation
100.100 Fall
term 1858 Academics Miss
Mary Lewis
Subject Conduct
100 Arith.
96.100 Latin
95.98 Composition
100.100 Declamation
100.100
From:
The New York Central College register of students from 1854 –
1858, Courtesy of Mary Kimberly, village historian, Village of McGraw,
NY
3/1/2013 Information is fundamental to discovery. Here are a
few more interesting dead ends from our investigations, published here
in hope of saving other researchers time and energy: Alaine Locke, in
The Negro in Art, suggested Edmonia Lewis was adopted from an
orphanage. She spoke often of losing her parents, and orphanages
were essential to a compassionate society. Oberlin College listed
her coming from New York City. The 1850 census shows a Mary E.
Lewis, 12 years of age (born about 1838 and therefore too old), at
the Colored Orphan Asylum, run by Quakers, in New York City. Its
records, now at the New York Historical Society, show her as Mary
Elizabeth Lewis indentured as a servant in Pennsylvania in 1853 –
confirmed by the 1860 census, where she appears as Elizabeth Lewis. Another colored
Mary Lewis appeared in the 1850 census as one of two servants living
with the young family of Abraham J. VanWinkle in New York City. At
age 13, she was also too old to be our subject The 1860 US
census of Oberlin OH did not count students, thus Mary (as she
called herself then) does not appear in the large Keep household
even though she lived there throughout the year. Neither the 1850
US nor the 1851 Canadian census has any record of our subject or her
brother. We believe she and her brother were living on tribal lands
in upstate New York, ignored by the census, at the time. Capt.
S. R. Mills, mentioned by her brother in his autobiographical essays,
remains another mystery. No such person appears in the 1840, 1850 or
1860 U.S. Census. The 1851-1852 Canadian Census lists three unlikely
possibilities on the Niagara Peninsula. A 52-year old
Baptist farmer named Samuel Mills living with his family in
Brantford, Ontario (located near the modern Iroquois and Chippewa
settlements), on the Niagara peninsula. A 52-year old
Methodist farmer named Sela Mills living with his large family in
nearby Norfolk County. A 46-year old
Sam’l Mills, no occupation given by the census, with five Canadian
born children, a U.S.-born wife named Aurora, and three foreign-born
Catholic servants in St. George’s ward. None of the records lists
a "Mary."
The
religious affiliations of the two farmers, Baptist and Methodist, do not
mesh with Edmonia’s assertions that “black robes” taught her
prayers before she moved to Albany. The third family, of Samuel Mills
(1806-1874), cites the Church of England, a possible alternative to the
Roman rite – but not to “black robes,” meaning Jesuits, that were
important to Edmonia. As a wealthy businessman, politician and bank
president, he also seems unlikely to have taken in and schooled
boarders.
A.H.
2/18/13 The
scholarly monograph of the past was incomplete without an “errata and
addenda” – cryptic entries printed on a slip of paper and
hand-inserted to challenge readers, booksellers, and library binders to
find and secure it. Whatever happened to this custom? There is always
some new finding. Today
we add a late citation, with comment, by blog, to The
Indomitable Spirit of Edmonia Lewis. Add
to note 581: Memphis
(TN) Daily Appeal, Local
Paragraphs, Oct. 19, 1876, 4: “Edmonia Lewis, the colored sculptor of
this country, has presented the Fisk university with terra cotta
busts of John Brown, Charles Sumner, and H. W. Longfellow. For some time
she has been in Rome, but is now in Philadelphia, attending the
exhibition of some of her statuary at the exposition.” Based
on the set of terra-cotta colored busts at Wilberforce University and a
letter by Edmonia to Samuel Chapman Armstrong at Hampton University, it
seems likely that Edmonia sent many more letters in 1876, that many sets
of fragile busts were presented, and most were lost. We had surveyed all
the historically black schools founded before 1876 without further
result. Thanks to the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America
program, we can add Fisk to the list of confirmed one-time owners of
these busts. A.H.
Feb. 11, 2013
Henry
Wreford (Athenæum, Mar. 3,
1866) described the first Emancipation statue sculpted by an
African-American artist: “Her
first ideal group was to be executed under a promise for some gentlemen
in Boston, and, in the true spirit of a heroine, she has selected for
her subject ‘The Freedwoman on first hearing of her Liberty.’
She has thrown herself on her knees, and, with clasped hands and
uplifted eyes, she blesses God for her redemption. Her boy, ignorant of
the cause of her agitation, hangs over her knees and clings to her
waist. She wears the turban which was used when at work. Around her
wrists are the half-broken manacles, and the chain lies on the ground
attached to a large ball. ‘Yes,’ she observed, ‘so was my race
treated in the market and elsewhere.’ It tells, with much eloquence, a
painful story.” A
dispute arose with her biggest booster in New England, Lydia Maria
Child. Mrs Child was one of several women to whom Lewis sent photographs
of her work. "The Freedwoman" was not seen again and was
rarely mentioned in later interviews. Edmonia went on to a second
Emancipation vision, which we now know as Forever Free. The
unfortunate conflict with Mrs. Child continued. Forever
Free found a home in
Boston without Mrs. Child's blessing. It is owned today by Howard
University in Washington DC. Lewis’s
third Emancipation theme was “Hagar,” the Biblical slave who was
freed to wander in the wilderness with her child. According to
interviews at the time, the work portrays the destitute woman as she met
the angel that saved her. By this time, Mrs. Child and Lewis were
estranged. The original work was destroyed in the 1871 Chicago Fire. A
copy dated 1875, and other works by Lewis, may be visited at the Smithsonian
American Art Museum in Washington DC.
There
is much more research into, reflection on, and appreciation of Lewis's
engagement with her heritage in our
book. A.H. Jan. 23, 2013 Winding up
the year, I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation for
stimulating comments, suggestions, answers, tweets, and other
encouragement. Good wishes and sincere interest mean more than I can
express in these few words. Thanks to: J. Adams, “AfricanBurialGround,”
N. Anderson, M. L. Ausfeld, J. Walker-Bickett, Black Artist News, C.
Clark, R. Cloud, S. Colyer, J. Copeland, M. R. Daniel, M. M. DeMenna, A.
C. DePietro, D. C. Driskell, V. P. Franklin, W. Freyer, N. Freeman, L.
M. Gilbert, C. Griswold, G. Gurney, J. Hartman, D. Hausler, A. H.
Hearth, E. Henderson, T. Henderson, History Detectives, J. Jefferson, E.
Johnston, E. Kahn, “Keri @ AWH,” T. Leininger-Miller, H. LeVine, “LiteraryWomen,”
J. Lockard, R. Makoumbou, A. Manuel, A. Meridith, National Women’s
History Museum, Native Encyclopedia, C. A. Nelson, Newark Museum, S.
Orndorff, B. and E. Osborn, M. W. Panhorst, Pequot Museum, “PublishedAuthors,”
Reynolda House, M. Richardson, J. Robinson, T. Sanders, J. Serwer, J.
Smiley, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and
Culture, F. Stewart, S. S. Sundman, S. Sweeney, J. Thorn, Ungaro, Walker
Art Gallery, C. B. Wilson, Women Organized Now, D. Yaron, P. Young. My
sincere apologies to anyone I may have overlooked. By
Albert and Joseph Henderson, first published in Swann Galleries, 100
Fine Works on Paper including the Harry B. Henderson Collection of
Important Works by Romare Bearden, Sept. 15, 2005, opposite lot 66. Harry and Romie were members of the
generation that grew up with ‘the War to End all Wars,’ the Roaring
20s, the Depression, the Ku Klux Klan, the WPA, World War II, the Cold
War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Like Romie, Harry had a wide
spectrum of interests and enthusiasms. When photographer Sam Shaw
introduced them, their affinity for each other was immediate. Both had
come to New York City from rural America in order to take part in the
mainstream. Both were fascinated with the social, economic, and cultural
developments of the time. Both liked to reflect in their work what they
heard and saw as well as to share their own ideas and interpretations.
While Romie struggled as an artist, Harry survived from article to essay
as a freelance writer for popular magazines.* In
1969, Romie recruited Harry to coauthor a ‘History of Negro Artists in
America,’ based on “research, information and discussion carried out
together as much as possible.” For the two decades that followed,
Harry went to Romie’s studio every Wednesday night to review the work
in progress. In those early days of the discovery of African-Americans
by the media, they easily convinced Doubleday to take the project,
subject to the quick delivery of a ‘lite’ version. Six Black
Masters of American Art was published without fanfare in 1973
for Doubleday’s Zenith Books. The authors were disappointed to find
this imprint was aimed at the school library market and rarely appeared
in general outlets. Although Doubleday lost interest in the project,
they continued correspondence, library research, interviews, and
writing. They moved the project to Pantheon in early 1988. In 1993 their
landmark tome was finally published as A
History of African American Artists, five years after Romie had
passed away. Harry continued to uncover new details of the legendary 19th
century sculptor, Edmonia Lewis who was the subject of their third book.
Harry and Romie thought it would “be published without much
trouble.” Harry passed away in 2003. Unfortunately, it remains
unpublished.** Letters
reflect the resonance that animated their relationship. For example, in
1949 Romie wrote to Harry, “I read what you had to say about my work
with great interest, and my own feeling is that you’re about half
right. That is … your appraisal of the superficial elements in the
last work you saw is something with which I must now agree; however, I
believe that this feeling was due not such [sic] much to my having
eschewed certain positive, and socially meaningful themes, as it was for
a searching to grasp painterly certitude within that means. I can’t
help but feel that the great power of the painter lies in his ability to
show – and not to depict. While I confined this assertion to painting,
isn’t it true that the ‘Grapes of Wrath,’ ‘Native Son,’ and
other novels of such a character are less interesting to us now than
when they were published – and enjoyed a certain relevance in relation
to the social patterns of their times…. And now, I [am] inclined more
and more to believe that the serious artist, still attempting this
moribund craft of easel painting, will forsake all illustratory
purposes.” *See www.beardenfoundation.org
and www.harryhenderson.com **See
The Indomitable Spirit
of Edmonia Lewis, published in Sepember 2012 near the
anniversaries of Romie’s and Harry’s birth dates. According
to Star du Congo, Dec, 6, 2012, "L'Edmonia," an arts award
named after Edmonia Lewis by L’association Reines et Héroïnes d’Afrique
(Association for the Queens and Heroines of Africa), was awarded to
36-year old Congolese artist Rhode
Bath-Schéba Makoumbou. "L'Edmonia is
assigned to the Afro-descendant
woman artist,
sculptor or painter
who works by her
attempts to raise awareness
of Africa in general,
African women,
or the lives of Africans
in the Diaspora,"
say
the promoters of this new award. Congratulations, Ms.
Makoumbou! MORE, from ECAir
inflight magazine: Rhode Bath-Schéba
Makoumbou was a precocious artist. She was only 8 years old when she
became familiar to painting alongside her father, painter David
Makoumbou. Whereas at first the family studio was a playground for the
young girl, she quickly acquired an artistic disposition and developed a
passion for art. For all that, following her parents’ advice, she
didn’t give up her studies and undertook training as a journalist but
had to abandon it during the civil war (from 1997 to 1999). In 2000, Rhode
Bath-Schéba Makoumbou returned to her first love: art. In order to
‘make a name for herself,’ she left her native Congo for Gabon, then
France, and finally Belgium where she now lives most of the time.
Leaving one’s country doesn’t mean disowning one’s roots, on the
contrary. If from 2003 Rhode became an internationally recognized
artist, she did so by asserting her African identity. She uses a knife
for painting, which enables her to achieve the thickness sought. As a
sculptress, she uses a metal structure covered with fabric on which she
applies a mixture of sawdust and wood glue. Her monumental structures
– some three metres high – are greatly influenced by traditional
African sculpture. Observant of the African way of life and mores, this
artist succeeds in rendering the light which is so specific to the
continent. Her sculptures, representing small trades which are dying
out, also reflect Congo’s social and cultural background. Western art
is not a closed book to Rhode Bath-Schéba Makoumbou and she admits
being influenced by realist, cubist and expressionist art. The artist is
resolutely optimistic and her work imparts her values to the public.
Notably, she invites the youth of Africa not to give up and calls for
greater equality between men and women. The African woman, strong and
struggling daily to secure her children’s future – that is Rhode
Bath-Schéba Makoumbou’s prime source of inspiration. There is no
question of toning down her cultural identity. Rhode rebels against
standardisation of the art market. She sees herself as an authentic
African and ‘needs to know where she comes from in order to apprehend
the future better.’ Why
do we publish only the positive results of our research? “Positive”
is where the excitement is, of course, and positive results are what
most readers want to read. But
what about the researchers – like me? I have lost count of the costs
of drilling down on dead ends. For example: Looking for
Edmonia Lewis’s grave in Rome, based on bogus reports published by
lazy writers and editors 100 years ago, was a complete waste. I
wasn’t the only one on that wild goose chase. At one time, we
queried parish records in New York, New Jersey, and Canada. Many
archivists kindly searched their records, finding nothing. Others
advised me of records lost. We also found parish microfilms online,
enabling searches not only of baptisms but of deaths, looking for
anyone named “Lewis.” We eventually
deduced that Edmonia’s parents were not Catholic. Their
baptisms and deaths were thus unlikely to appear in parish records,
even though Edmonia referred to “black robes” of her childhood. A member of the
black-robed “black Franciscans” in Rensselaer NY made the point
that his order did not come to the United States until after 1850.
Thus Franciscans could not be confused with the Jesuit missionaries
who taught Edmonia prayers. Neither the
Archivio del storico del Vicariato nor we were able to find any
record of Edmonia’s adult baptism in Rome. Some other diocese must
have a record. We applied to likely suspects, Venice and Sorrento,
but neither replied. To
what extent did these fruitless searches follow in the footsteps of
others? It doesn’t matter. I hope this short article and other notes
will save other researchers valuable time. – A. H. Nov. 30, 2012 Not surprisingly, friends and
family turned to “Real books” versus E-books after Thanksgiving
dinner this year. One after another said, in effect, “I don’t want
e-books. I like real books!” Unhappily, we worried over the
sea changes in reading and buying behaviors. E-books are outselling
paperbacks. People with smartphones and other devices are downloading on
the fly and carrying dozens of books wherever they go. The Borders
chain, which had no foothold in e-books, closed hundreds of bookstores
and went out of business last year. The other big booksellers, Barnes
& Noble and Amazon.com, each have major investments in digital
readers. Why do we resist the inevitable? I get it, of course. Not long
ago, I was squarely in the “real books” camp. I was born during the
Great Depression and raised to appreciate the simple life. I prefer the
familiar over the new, the commonplace to the novelty, and simple
mechanics rather than technology I don’t understand. I am also partial
to: A
manual transmission in a car, Live
performances, Black-and-white
photos and movies. I keep my old Webster’s
New Collegiate Dictionary within arm’s reach. I can get a fair
definition more quickly online, but I tend to doubt the quality. My
office bookshelves, double deep floor to ceiling, barely leave room for doors and windows. Where would I put the dozens of books I read online?
Google Books offers full-text searches that help me find the books I
need, but with a “real book” I can keep a finger in the notes or
index as I gloss the text. I also get irritated with reading
‘portrait’-shaped pages with my ‘landscape’ computer screen. If
I really like a book that I find online, I will buy and add it to
my sagging shelves. We cannot judge the promise of
e-books by old PDF files. Unlike ill-fitting scans of old tomes, the
“pure” e-book – made for the Kindle, the Nook, the Adobe Digital
Reader, etc, – fits the screen perfectly. They free your
finger-in-the-back-of-the-book as hyperlinks take you from text to note
and back with a click or two. You can annotate your copy (without
guilt), search for a word or phrase, and pull up a dictionary definition
with ease. The technology allows you to change the type size, lend your
copy, or borrow from a library. The migration to e-books is not
like a choice of canned fruit over fresh. I learned to type on a
hand-me-down Royal portable, and my hands are stronger for it. Years
ago, however, I gave up the Royal (not to mention the white-out
correction fluid) when I learned how to use WordStar on an Osborne with
the CP/M operating system. I put the dear old Royal in a corner for a
while and finally took it to the dump. Eventually I also upgraded my
hardware and software. With little effort and no middlemen, I can now
publish on the Internet or in an online bookstore. The past can be convincing as
prolog. Today’s Holy Bible originally existed as hand-written
scrolls rather than as mechanically-produced books. As a Jew, Jesus
Christ must have meant a scroll, not a book, when he referred to
scripture. Jews still use such scrolls for religious services. Yet,
Christians abandoned the scroll early on. They still apply words like
“biblio” [from the Greek βιβλίο]
and “volume” [from the Latin volvere (to roll)] when talking
and writing about books, even e-books. Like Moore’s Law (that the
number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles periodically) the
technology of bookmaking has a record of exponential progress. The
“real” book took about three thousand years to develop from the
first handwritten scrolls. Another fifteen hundred years passed before
Gutenberg gave us the concept of mechanical printing. Now, about five
hundred years later, the e-book is here and claiming huge successes,
particularly with the younger generation. Few bibliophiles mourn the
scroll. Despite my stated preferences
for the familiar over the new, I don’t consider myself a hypocrite as
I drive a car with automatic transmission and enjoy recorded
performances – mostly in color. I spent decades years in the business
of publishing: dealing with printers, binders, warehouses, shippers,
booksellers, customs brokers, the postal service, and so on. Our new
e-books bypass all that, with savings in cost so huge they let us cut
retail prices by two thirds. More than that, they are virtually
weightless, collect no dust, will never go out-of-print, and will never
sag a shelf. How could a reasonable person
argue against all that? Please pass the pie. – A. H. Nov. 23, 2012
Most historical references point to Nov. 11, 1864, as
the date Edmonia Lewis’s historic plaster bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw
launched her reputation as a portraitist at the Colored Soldiers’ Fair in Boston. After all, the Boston
Transcript raved about Lewis's work on that date.
But
the Colored Soldiers Fair, which was organized by the wife of colored
painter Edward M. Bannister, had occurred in mid-October. The story
in the Transcript (and later in the Liberator) was about the
National Sailors' Fair. On
Nov. 14, the Transcript
published a correction, noting that production problems had delayed its
appearance. On
Nov. 15,
John Greenleaf Whittier, in a letter to Lydia Maria Child, noted he had
seen the bust that she had spoken to him about at the colored fair.
"It struck me as very excellent." We suggest Nov. 15 be
memorialized as the first public appearance of Edmonia Lewis's portrait
bust of Col. Shaw. Lewis
eventually sold (and gave away) 100 copies of the Shaw bust and received
commissions for other portraits, including Maria Weston Chapman, Horace
Mann, 'Dio' Lewis, and others. The
National Sailors' Fair raised $247,000 to build a home for disabled
seamen. Whittier was on its editorial board and contributed a poem
titled 'The Boatswain's Whistle." – A.H. Nov. 15, 2012,
Dec. 28, 2012 Everywhere in America, there seem to be people
named “Lewis” (first or last name) if not “Luis” or “Louis.”
It is a database searcher’s nightmare. Few are colored (usually noted
in 19th-century records), and fewer yet have a “Mary” and
“Samuel” in the same family – Edmonia’s father and brother both
were named “Samuel.” Edmonia's first name, rarely used by her after 1862,
was "Mary." Thankfully, the name “Edmonia” was relatively
special. Despite considerable efforts to uncover Edmonia
Lewis’s family tree, both online and off, most of it remains a
mystery. She visited with her brother in Boston, Chicago, somewhere west
of St. Paul, and probably Philadelphia. But she did not provide his name
or introduce him to anyone on the record. Discovery of his identity
seems miraculously connected to Haiti, the birthplace he kept secret
most of his life, as discussed in our
book. His autobiographical articles led us to her father, who, in
turn led us to Hannah Lewis, a likely earlier generation, in Newark, NJ. Some database results remain of interest. Perhaps
more research will turn up clear connections. I can offer the interested
reader two examples: “Hannah Lewis” appeared with "Samuel
Lewis," the name of Edmonia’s father, in Newark, NJ, as discussed
in our
book. In a later (1860) census, Hannah S. Lewis – age 85 and
credited with real estate valued at $1200, personal property valued at
$100 – appeared at a Newark NJ house (but in a separate apartment
from) James H. Newman, age 25, who operated a store, and his
wife, also Hannah, 24. Because Edmonia and her brother made no further
reference to New Jersey, we did not follow up. The 1850 census of Syracuse NY, where [Mary]
Edmonia stopped several times, is intriguing. The daughter of Fortune
Lewis was named “Mary” (age 3; born in Syracuse). Next door, the
family of Charley Lewis included another “Mary” (age 17;
birthplace not given) and a “Samuel” (age 22). Several of Charley's
children were born in New Jersey. Is it possible Edmonia was related to
this family of basket weavers through her father’s New Jersey traces?
Names often repeat within a family tree. Again, we did not pursue this
possibility. A more elusive reference to her aunt at Niagara
Falls is so vague it is unhelpful. Although Whitney (Dec. 12, 1869)
understood one aunt, “her old Aunt – her mother’s sister.” An
interview quotation (Daily Graphic), however, went plural, “My
Indian aunts took care of me.” Or were there faults in transcriptions? “Aunt”
is a title often generously applied. Could her aunt(s) have not been
related by blood? Or did totem, a Chippewa form of kinship, play a part?
Edmonia understood her brother had been in touch with her aunt(s), but
they did not share her Chippewa mother. Edmonia passed through the Albany and Niagara
regions on her way to Chicago, etc. She could have stopped many times,
but she reported only one visit with her aunt(s). We lack the maiden
name of Edmonia’s mother and no source tells us more. We contacted
many archivists in the Albany and Niagara regions, looking for school,
baptismal, and burial records that might have given up such information.
We found nothing. Further inquiries seem impossible. But, then, relatives may turn up when least
expected. – A.H. Nov. 1, 2012 The Edmonia
Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People at Oberlin College,
named after Mary Edmonia Lewis, is "a collective of students,
staff, and administrators who strive to transform existing systems of
oppression based on sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability,
size, religion, nationality, ethnicity, and language." Oct. 19, 2012 In January 1864, Lydia Maria Child met Edmonia Lewis at Tremont
Temple in Boston, where abolitionists -- white and African-American --
were celebrating the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Mrs. Child reported their meeting that February, in effect introducing
the "colored sculptor" to the readers of William Lloyd
Garrison's Liberator. The following year, she expanded the
interview for a Detroit newspaper. Mrs. Child's enthusiasm was as unpredictable as the weather. Her
private letters and public essays reflect deep conflicts, one day joy,
another day remorse. She tried to stall Edmonia's ambition, first
objecting to the plan to memorialize the martyred Col. Robert Gould Shaw
-- later praising her work. She remarked kindly on a photo (sent from
Rome) of The Freedwoman and her Child in the New York
Independent but opposed raising money to put it into marble. Months
later, seeing a photo of Forever Free, she clearly praised it in
the Independent but complained rather bitterly about it when it
arrived in Boston. Oct 18, 1869: After more than a year of controversy, Edmonia Lewis
returned to Boston and received honors
at Boston's Tremont Temple with the presentation of Forever
Free to Rev. Leonard Grimes. Grimes was a leading black
abolitionist and pastor of the 'Fugitive Slave Church.' He had
transported many fugitive slaves to safety and, when caught, spent time
in a Richmond jail. Attending the
reception were Rev. J. D. Fulton, Rev. Robert C. Waterston, William Lloyd
Garrison, William Craft and William Wells Brown. Not reported in attendance:
Mrs. Child and her dear friends, Wendell Phillips and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E.
Sewall. Ten years earlier on this date, John Brown had stormed the arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, hoping to start a slave rebellion. He was vilified and
hanged for his trouble. Forever Free
(now at Howard University) is the earliest surviving Emancipation
work by an African-American artist. By the time Forever Free arrived in Boston, Edmonia had
started her third and final symbolic Emancipation work, Hagar
(a version dated 1875 can be seen in the Smithsonian American Art
Museum). She sent a photo to Mrs. Child, but she had little hope of
restoring the support she once enjoyed. More on all this in The
Indomitable Sprit of Edmonia Lewis, A Narrative Biography. –
A. H. Sept 30, 2012 The 100-year mystery of Edmonia Lewis’s disappearance can
be documented by the notices posted by her fans seeking her whereabouts, as discussed in
our
book. Her brother’s
will put her in Paris in 1896. Our last reliable record dated from 1901,
the English census, which found her living in the Bloomsbury area of
central London – a fact not widely known even today. Countless 20th-century researchers looked for
traces of her in Rome, based on “sightings” now known to be false.
For decades, my father and I joined in, each of us going there, but also
hiring local researchers to look through Italian, French, and English
records at considerable expense. We found only more rumors. As more
vital records became available online and produced nothing, it seemed she must
have been lost at sea, while traveling rural America, or in some other
calamity. Imagine my excitement on the morning of Nov.
2, 2010, when I found a reference to “LEWIS, Mary Edmonia” in the
National Probate Calendar of England and Wales, a pay-per-view database
run by the British arm of Ancestry.com. It continued, “of 154
Blythe-road, Hammersmith Middlesex spinster died 17 September 1907 at
the Hammersmith-borough-infirmary Goldhawk-road Hammersmith
Probate London 12 November to the reverend Charles Cox clerk Effects £489
0s. 6d.” [“Middlesex
spinster” was a county that included Hammersmith and Fulham.] We had seen “LEWIS, Mary” many times over in
the English death index, but never “LEWIS, Mary Edmonia.” It made little sense
to me that our subject could be in the probate index but not
in the other. I needed to verify just who this was.
Over the next few days, I contacted the Diocese of
Westminster in London, the Hammersmith & Fulham Archives (who kindly
directed me to the London Metropolitan Archives), Catholic cemeteries,
the Holy Trinity church in Hammersmith, and other potential sources of
information. Not all responded, as is so often the case with
long-distance inquiries about matters of historical interest. However, results were more than satisfactory.
Within a month, at the cost of $8.10 for a draft in British pounds plus
a bank fee of $15.00, I had a copy of the will. I also obtained a copy
of the official death certificate. A page from a microfilm of the
Hammersmith Infirmary (no longer in existence) register of deaths cited
“Lewis, Mary” age 42, etc. on the date in question. I had searched the England & Wales, Death
Index: 1837-1915 online and, earlier, in 2006, paid £44.50 for someone else
to search the records 1901 through 1940. No one could assure me that the
index included all deaths. Curiously, it listed the death of “Lewis, Mary,
42” at Fulham, rather than Hammersmith, on the date in question. A
patient English archivist explained over the telephone the obscure
administrative reasons why this had been done. I also studied maps and other documents that could
provide information about the neighborhood, and I looked into the
people, such as Rev. Charles Cox, churches, and other places of relevant
interest. What I found was often interesting but not always of specific
interest to Edmonia Lewis’s life and art. I also traced a number of leads that appeared to be
of minor value. > Google maps could take me
“street level” to the neighborhoods, some of which have
obviously changed a lot since 1907 -- others not so much. > Rev. Cox lived near Our Lady of Victories church
in Kensington with two other priests, and three women: a cook, a parlourmaid, and a
housemaid, according to the 1901 census. > According to the 1891 census, 154 Blythe Road had
20 residents in five households. The 1901 census described it as a
private house with 11 rooms and seven householders, many with the last
name "Kennedy." > A flat at 156a Blythe Road, which today appears in the same row
of seemingly identical houses as number 154, was for sale at the time. The
agent verified it was
"Victorian," built around the early 1900s. She sent a
description: 544 sq. ft. with a floor plan and some photos of the one
bedroom, reception room, kitchen, and patio garden. Obviously, the
kitchen and bathroom were modernized after World War II, but I
thought it comparable to many London flats I had seen. > The cause of death given by the Hammersmith
Infirmary journal, “Bright thaemia,” was not rare then, but the term is archaic jargon today, according to the Wellcome Library in London. > Wikipedia offers a list of notable deaths credited to
Bright’s disease. > The diocesan archivist could give me some history about Rev.
Charles Cox (1853-1916), a serious musician who served at historic
Our Lady of
Victories at the time Edmonia wrote her will, but they
had nothing on the bulk of the Lewis estate, which was left to Rev. Cox.
Cox was credited with clearing the church's debt, and the Lewis bequest
may have helped. > Lewis's personal effects and a small sum went to neighbor Virginia Lucy Gerres,
daughter of a German baker, who died unmarried in 1957 with an estate
worth £20,000. By mid-December, with the aid of an earnest
librarian at one of the great American Catholic universities, I obtained
a copy of the official death notice published in The
Tablet. The will specified, "I wish that on my decease
the usual preparations for burial may be carried out under the
supervision of a Catholic Nun and that my body be enclosed in a dark
walnut coloured coffin." It continued, "I desire that a
funeral service be carried out over my body in the Catholic Church of Our
Lady of Victories Kensington prior to its interment and that the body be
carried to the Kensal Green Catholic Cemetery on a hearse that shall be
draped so as to completely cover the coffin from view. I desire further
that my body be followed to the grave by two Catholic Nuns in a
carriage...." St.
Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green (also known as Kensal
Rise) is a 29 acre site up the hill from the much larger Kensal Green
Cemetery. St. Mary's did not reply to my several inquiries. Eventually
Edmonia's grave (350C) would be located, listed in the Cemetery's records as
"Mary Lewis." The death
certificate, notice, and the will written in 1905 tell us that we
have the correct Mary Lewis. It seems clear that she covered her tracks
– but not why. Thanks to the thoroughness of English record-keeping
and the emergence of online databases, we finally know essential facts. I had intended to hold this discovery for
publication of The
Indomitable Sprit of Edmonia Lewis, A Narrative Biography, which at the time
was under review by a traditional publisher. After seeing a press
release dated Jan 9, 2011, by Marilyn Richardson (who is also
preparing a biography of Edmonia Lewis), I decided she was right. I
published the documents and a
brief commentary the next day on www.edmonialewis.com rather than prolong the
agony for others by forcing them to replicate my work. We include much more about Edmonia Lewis’s last
days in our book, of course, the
various places she lived, and the institutions and people who seemingly
played a role in her life. – A.H.
"In
an effort to counter 150 years of errors, confusion, and meanness, I
made a free web site filled with facts, links, quotations, and news of
auctions and museum acquisitions: “Edmonia Lewis: First
Internationally Acclaimed African-American Sculptor,” at
www.edmonialewis.com. I am pleased to report the number of visitors has
steadily risen each year. I encourage readers of this biography* to
check the site for copies of documents and other useful information as
well as to register to receive notice of
“Edmonia Lewis News” via email." *(from
The
Indomitable Sprit of Edmonia Lewis, A Narrative Biography) – A.H.
Last updated
06/20/2020
© 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 A.K.H.
Hats Off to
the Edmonia Lewis Center on Spirit Day
Bigotry in 19th-Century Rome
Recently a scholar, having completed his course and passed his
examination very satisfactorily, received a diploma, but was forbidden
to practise among Christians, not only in Rome, but throughout all the
Ecclesiastical States. In 1805 and 1806 an Israelitish youth was
admitted to a course of mathematics in the university by a special favor
of the sovereign pontiff.
7. The Jewish poor are not admitted into any of the benevolent
institutions of Rome, neither are they allowed to share in labors
destined to alleviate misery. The reigning pontiff, in the first years
of his pontificate, granted an annuity of three hundred dollars for the
relief of poor Israelites; but still they are forced either to collect
and sell rags and old clothes to gain a scanty livelihood, or become a
burden to their friends. The indigent poor who are succored by their
friends, above and beyond the pope's favor of three hundred dollars,
amount to twenty-two hundred, or about half the Jewish population.
8. Notwithstanding their limited means of support, the Jews are forced
to pay heavy taxes. These, and many other grievances, were told us by
those whose want of means alone prevented their leaving a home of
oppression, injustice, and injury.Dead Ends? III A Phantom Memorial
Link to: Author
interview with Jeri Walker-Bickett
“I was declared to be wild.” Mary E. Lewis’s
grades at New York Central College, McGrawville, NY
Dead Ends? II
"Mary E. Lewis" was recorded by New York
Central College and Oberlin College records. (She emerged from Oberlin
College as "M. Edmonia Lewis," soon to drop the "M." )
Capt. Mills looked after young Mary,
before she went to New York Central College
Addendum – HBCU
Marketing in 1876
Edmonia Lewis
Celebrated Emancipation Three Times
Thanks for 2012
Romare H. Bearden and Harry B.
Henderson, Jr.
"L'Edmonia" awarded in Brussels
Research
note:
Dead Ends I?
E-Books
and Apple Pie
Research
note:
Trivia- The Colored Soldiers
Fair
Research
note:
Family Tree
Hats off to the Edmonia Lewis
Center on Spirit Day, 2012
Tremont Temple - Oct.
18, 1869
Research
note:
Searching for the Last Days.
Why
www.edmonialewis.com