Museum of Afro-American History - Images of the Shaw/54th Regiment Memorial

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Museum of Afro-American History

Other Works

Marble bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, 1867, by Edmonia Lewis.

The daughter of a free black father and a Chippewa mother, Lewis was born with the Indian name Wildfire in the early 1840's.

After studying at Oberlin College, where she took her Christian name, she came to Boston in 1862 to study with sculptor Edward A. Brackett.

Her brother, Sunrise, who had been a successful gold miner in California, rented an atelier for her in the Studio Building on Tremont Street, where she fashioned and sold her first works, including medallions of John Brown and busts of Shaw.

From the proceeds of these sales and contributions from friends, Lewis went abroad to study in 1865. Settling in Rome, she soon acquired an international reputation and helped carve a place for women in the field of sculpture.

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	Images © Museum of Afro-American History
Other Works Marble bust of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, 1867, by Edmonia Lewis. The daughter of a free black father and a Chippewa mother, Lewis was born with the Indian name Wildfire in the early 1840's. After studying at Oberlin College, where she took her Christian name, she came to Boston in 1862 to study with sculptor Edward A. Brackett. Her brother, Sunrise, who had been a successful gold miner in California, rented an atelier for her in the Studio Building on Tremont Street, where she fashioned and sold her first works, including medallions of John Brown and busts of Shaw. From the proceeds of these sales and contributions from friends, Lewis went abroad to study in 1865. Settling in Rome, she soon acquired an international reputation and helped carve a place for women in the field of sculpture.