Edmonia Lewis created sculptures exploring racial themes in a style based on classical Greek and Roman ideals. The daughter of a Chippewa (Ojibwa) mother and an African American father, she was educated at Oberlin College, the first college in the United States open to African Americans, Native Americans, and women. Lewis eventually worked in Rome where she was warmly welcomed into a circle of American sculptors. Movement to Europe afforded Lewis opportunities that were not available to African Americans, Native Americans, and women in America.