Born in Greenbush, New York in 1844, Lewis became the first sculptor of Black and Indigenous (Mississauga) descent to achieve international recognition. Beginning her career in Boston in 1863, she traveled to Rome in 1866 to join the leading American sculptors of her generation, breaking international, racial and gender barriers. "Sometimes the times were dark and the outlook was lonesome, but where there is a will, there is a way,” Lewis recalled in 1878. “That is what I tell my people whenever I meet them, that they must not be discouraged, but work ahead until the world is bound to respect them for what they have accomplished.”

Following her death in 1907, Lewis’s legacy endured in Black communities yet her contribution to American sculpture has largely been underrecognized. Some of her great masterpieces were rediscovered decades later, while others remain lost today.

Her vivid, naturalistic stone sculptures feature abolitionists and social reformers, engage with Indigenous identity, and give new life to religious and mythological figures.

Discover the first museum exhibition of its kind to gather the full range of Lewis’s art alongside works by her contemporaries and the generations of artists she influenced. Together these 100 objects foreground Lewis’s life and work within her worlds and reveal her true mastery of marble.

Follow along on social media using #EdmoniaLewisatPEM

Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone is co-organized by the Peabody Essex Museum and the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia. Major support is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation, and Karla and Jeff Kaneb. We thank Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, The Creighton Family, Chip and Susan Robie, Karla and Jeff Kaneb, Timothy T. Hilton, and an anonymous donor as supporters of the Exhibition Innovation Fund. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
 

EXHIBITION TOURING SCHEDULE
Georgia Museum of Art | August 8, 2026–January 3, 2027
North Carolina Museum of Art | April 3–July 11, 2027