SuperRare

Edmonia Lewis, also known as “Wildfire,” was born in 1844 in New York state to an African American father and a Native American (Ojibwe) mother. She is celebrated as one of the first Black women artists to gain international renown.

Orphaned at a young age, Lewis recalled a “wandering” childhood spent “fishing and swimming… and making moccasins.” When she attended school, she was “declared to be wild–they could do nothing with me.” She later enrolled at Oberlin, one of the first U.S. colleges to accept Black students, though she experienced racism and sexism throughout her time there.

In one case, she was charged with attempting to poison two friends who she had served spiced wine before they fell ill. She was attacked by unknown assailants before standing trial, where she was successfully defended by Ohio’s first Black lawyer John Mercer Langston. Eventually, Lewis dropped out of Oberlin but was posthumously awarded her degree in 2022.