Before Black Bohemia: Edmonia Lewis in the post-bellum, pre-Harlem period
Date
2024
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Nineteenth-century Native and African American sculptor Edmonia Lewis’ maintained a relationship with African American identity and culture long after her expatriation to Rome, Italy in 1865. This project asks how Lewis navigated her identities as a Native and Black woman and how these identities shaped her experiences in the United States and her relationship with her African American contemporaries. This project also asks how Edmonia Lewis' career contributed to the development of African American literature, art, and cultural practice. Using the formulations of the Black Atlantic by Paul Gilroy and the “Post-Bellum, Pre-Harlem” by Caroline Gebhard and Barbara McCaskill as frameworks to understand the context of Lewis’ career, this project seeks to situate her within a broader understanding of late nineteenth-century African American history. By bringing attention to Lewis’ connection to the African American community, this project highlights the transnational nature of nineteenth-century African American cultural formation, as well as the cultural practices and political efforts that preceded and shaped the Harlem Renaissance. This project centers on Black print as its source, including a pamphlet, nineteenth-century history books written by Black intellectuals, and Black-owned newspapers in its analysis. Also significant to this project are nineteenth-century newspapers more broadly, particularly abolitionist newspapers, which help to form a more detailed timeline of Lewis’ visits to the United States. Especially helpful are sources that contain quotes or interviews with Lewis, as Lewis’ words are most important to this study. These sources allow for a deep analysis of Lewis’ public persona and her friendships and professional connections. In addition, these sources reveal how she used her position as a nonwhite American woman visual artist to successfully navigate spaces dominated by white, wealthy, and male persons to promote the establishment of a culture of Black arts. By using the tools of African American studies and literary analysis to describe Edmonia Lewis’ career, this project seeks to enhance our understanding of Black women’s identity, Black women’s writing practices, Black women in the public sphere, and the intellectual history of Black women.
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Keywords
African Americans, Lewis, Edmonia, Literary studies, Nineteenth-century, Black women