Edmonia Lewis: Forever Free
Feature Documentary In Development
Mary Edmonia Lewis, America's first successful African American/Native-American sculptor, was an art world superstar and an inspirational figure for the post-Civil War abolitionist movement.
PROJECT SCHOLARS AND EXPERTS
(1) Fern Cunningham-Terry, African-American/Native American Sculptor, creator of The Harriet Tubman Memorial, Boston, MA
(2) Jeffrey Richmond-Moll, Ph.D., The George Putnam Curator of American Art, Curator of Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone. The Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA 2026
(3) Marilyn Richardson, Curator of Boston's Museum of Afro-American History and the African Meeting House. Principal at Art + History Consultants; credited with re-discovering the grave of Edmonia Lewis in London.
(4) Brittney Peauwe Wunnepog Walley (Nipmuc), Native American artist, and creator of Chemacheg Menuhki: Paddle Strong at the Concord Museum, Concord, MA 2025
(5) Melissa Dabakis, Ph.D., Professor of Art History, Kenyon College, Author of A Sisterhood of Sculptors: American Artists in Nineteenth-Century Rome (Penn State University Press, 2014)
(6) Lisa Merrill, Ph.D., Professor of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University, NY. Author of When Romeo Was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and Her Circle of Female Spectators (U. of Michigan Press, 2000)
(7) Charlot Lucien, Haitian storyteller, poet and visual artist. Author “The Temptation of the Other Shore” released by Trilingual Press in Cambridge, MA. Founder and Director of the Haitian Artists Assembly of Massachusetts (HAAM).
Edmonia Lewis touched the lives of key 19th century historical figures
FILMING AT INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS
Like Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Audre Lord and Jimi Hendrix, Lewis left the USA at a crucial point in her career and found creative clarity, artistic growth, and critical acclaim overseas.
• GREENBUSH, NY • NIAGARA FALLS • OBERLIN • BOSTON • ROME • ST LOUIS • PHILADEPHIA • PARIS • LONDON
SYNOPSIS
Around the time of the Civil War, an orphaned Black/Native American girl shows artistic promise, attends college, survives a brutal mob attack, joins a group of expat White lesbian artists in Rome, becomes an internationally celebrated sculptor, earns a fortune, dies in obscurity, and is rediscovered in the 21st century.
Along the way, Mary Edmonia Lewis touches the lives of Frederick Douglass, Julia Ward Howe, William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Brown, President Ulysses S. Grant, Pope Pius IX, and many others. Yet today, much about her life remains a mystery.
Edmonia Lewis
Black/Native Sculptor
BACKGROUND
RECENT EDMONIA LEWIS EXHIBITIONS
Peabody Essex Museum (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Baltimore Museum of Art (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Detroit Institute of Arts (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Howard University Gallery of Art (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Interlochen Arts Academy (Edmonia Lewis Opera 2024)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Mount Auburn Cemetery (Edmonia Lewis Statue)
Oberlin College (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (Edmonia Lewis Exhibit)
Filmmaker Roberto Mighty at The Smithsonian Institution with Edmonia Lewis’ controversial statue, “The Death of Cleopatra”
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Edmonia Lewis’ art combined her Native American and African American heritage with European neoclassicism and Roman Catholic iconography - an original and uniquely American combination.
She didn’t ask permission, she didn’t apologize, she voiced controversial opinions, she used the prejudices of the day to further her ends, and she had little patience for those who would patronize her because she was a woman, Black, Native American, and often wore men’s clothes. It is fitting that Lewis’ Native American name – Suhkuhegarequa, translates to “Wildfire”. - Roberto
DONATE/SUPPORT
Originally conceived in 2015, Edmonia Lewis: Forever Free is currently in development. Funds are urgently needed to bring this project to fruition. Please contact us for more information. Thank you.
“The Death of Cleopatra” Edmonia Lewis, 1876
FILM DESCRIPTION
“Edmonia Lewis: Forever Free”, a new feature documentary, travels to retrace Edmonia Lewis’ steps across America and Europe, incorporating modern cinematic storytelling – including mystery story structure, dramatic reenactments, animation, archival images, multiple locations, dream sequences, subjective POV’s, and sweeping shots of sculptural works. Hollywood actors voice the words of renowned historical figures. Diverse scholars weigh in on Lewis’ life and times. Today’s women BIPOC and LGBTQ artists speak to her legacy.
WHY NOW
Through the lens of Lewis' life, "Edmonia Lewis: Forever Free" explores how women artists were ridiculed; exoticism, authenticity, and stereotyping; the world of American LGBTQ expats in 19th century Europe; why history overlooks artists of color; Lewis' attempts to define herself; why she chose Europe over America; and why her story matters today.
FILMMAKER
Roberto Mighty MFA, is an award-winning filmmaker, PBS producer, and multimedia artist. His documentary about Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott's 1950's meeting and romance, “Legacy of Love”, airs seasonally on PBS TV stations, and streams on PBS/WORLD Channel. Roberto also produces, directs and writes “World’s Greatest Cemeteries”, a docu-travel series about history, diversity, and landscape. He has 38 half-hour episodes currently airing/streaming on PBS channels.
In 2022, the US Postal Service issued the Edmonia Lewis stamp, and honored Roberto with an award for his multimedia project about her life and times, "An American in Rome".
His projects include historical films, residencies, and exhibitions at Harvard University, where he has worked with the Nipmuc Native American community since 2011. Roberto's work has been supported by Black Public Media, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, The National Association of Latino Independent Producers, and the National Science Foundation.