History:
Lewis was an American sculptor born in 1844. She lived for most of her life in Rome, there she was part of a lesbian circle of American expatriates and artists.
She was soon orphaned and was raised by the Mississauga bond of her mother’s tribe. By her own sometimes exaggerated recollection, she was spirited, inquisitive child.
She became on of the first African-American female students in the Young Ladies Preparatory department of Oberlin College in Ohio. There she demonstrated a clear talent in drawing as a teenager. Lewis was accused of poisoning her two white housemates with an aphrodisiac. Although charges against her were eventually dismissed, she was taken by a lynch mob and badly beaten. Some historians see in this the first signs of Lewis presumed homosexuality; They believed that the women, who were on dates with their male companions when the poison took effect, had been targeted because of romantic jealousy.
Forced to live Oberlin in 1863, Lewis went to Boston to study with the sculptor Edward A. Brackett, her mentor. She also befriended lesbian sculptors Anne Whitney (1821-1915) and Harriet Hosmer (1830-1908). While there was never explicit proof of Lewis homosexuality, her inclusion in a lesbian circle in Rome has contributed to the speculations. Henry James famously dubbed this group which Included Emma Stebbins (1815-1882), Whitney and Hosmer, along with Margarette Foley (1820-1877).
She was soon orphaned and was raised by the Mississauga bond of her mother’s tribe. By her own sometimes exaggerated recollection, she was spirited, inquisitive child.
She became on of the first African-American female students in the Young Ladies Preparatory department of Oberlin College in Ohio. There she demonstrated a clear talent in drawing as a teenager. Lewis was accused of poisoning her two white housemates with an aphrodisiac. Although charges against her were eventually dismissed, she was taken by a lynch mob and badly beaten. Some historians see in this the first signs of Lewis presumed homosexuality; They believed that the women, who were on dates with their male companions when the poison took effect, had been targeted because of romantic jealousy.
Forced to live Oberlin in 1863, Lewis went to Boston to study with the sculptor Edward A. Brackett, her mentor. She also befriended lesbian sculptors Anne Whitney (1821-1915) and Harriet Hosmer (1830-1908). While there was never explicit proof of Lewis homosexuality, her inclusion in a lesbian circle in Rome has contributed to the speculations. Henry James famously dubbed this group which Included Emma Stebbins (1815-1882), Whitney and Hosmer, along with Margarette Foley (1820-1877).
My opinion
Now, one of the main reason why I chose Lewis is because she didn’t only have to suffer the fact that she might have been homosexual, but also have to face all the cold stares because she was African-American. In a way, it would make it even more interesting if she hadn’t been homosexual because most of the women she befriended were lesbians. That would mean that she accepted their nature and who they were without caring about the fact that they were homosexual. This is what it means to be human, to love, to care and to feel compassion.