Edmonia Lewis exhibits Death of Cleopatra at the Philadelphia Centennial

Edmonia Lewis, the first professionally recognized Black American sculptor, exhibited her monumental marble Death of Cleopatra at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Lewis, who was also of Ojibwe heritage, trained in Rome and became the first Black American woman to receive international acclaim as a fine artist and sculptor. Her work confronted race, gender, and slavery through neoclassical form.