Women of Mark

This chapter introduces the reader to the lives and art of Mary Edmonia Lewis and Meta Warrick Fuller, and their emancipation sculptures Forever Free and Emancipation. As highly accomplished African American “women of mark,” Lewis and Fuller not only broke racial barriers through their realistic and dignified depiction of their Black subjects, but they also crafted a rare, and powerful visual narrative of emancipation from the Black perspective. Although similar in theme, the two emancipation sculptures were sculpted fifty years apart and differ greatly in artistic style, emotion, and narrative. To understand the differences between each artists’ depiction of the Black emancipation experience, this chapter explores the how the elements of craft, culture, and privacy influenced each artist and shaped their art.