It’s a shame most of us have never heard of Edmonia Lewis. She used her talent to replicate life through clay. In the 1840s she was born in a wigwam to a Chippewah woman and an African American man, she became an orphan at age four. Through the financial support of her older brother, Edmonia attended boarding school and was accepted to Oberlin College to study music in 1859. While there she endured some racial tension (and was later forced to leave Oberlin), but came out of that experience with a love for sculpture. She relocated to Boston to hone her talent. Read the full story