Front Cover: "The Barrier" © Samella Lewis

Pioneering artist and art historian Samella Lewis is renowned for her contributions to African American art and art history. She was born on February 27, 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and her heritage led her to view art as an essential expression of the community and its struggles.

Lewis began her art career as a student at Dillard University, where she was instructed by the African American sculptor Elizabeth Catlett. At one of her instructor’s suggestions, she transferred to Hampton Institute, where she earned her B.A. in art history in 1945. She completed her graduate studies at the Ohio State University, earning an M.A. in 1948, and in 1951 Lewis became the first African American woman to receive a doctorate in fine arts and art history. In order to publish Black Artists on Art (1969), she founded the first African American-owned art publishing house, Contemporary Crafts.

From 1969 to 1984, Lewis worked as professor of art history at Scripps College in Claremont, California, becoming the college’s first tenured African American professor. She also helped to found the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles in 1976 and established the scholarly journal International Review of African-American Art that same year. It has become the leading forum for educating scholars and others about the many contributions of African Americans to the visual arts. Currently Dr. Lewis is Professor Emerita of art history at Scripps College of the Claremont Colleges.

Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts

In this Issue

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Chapter 2 from Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Paolo Freire
pp. 163-174
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Selected Responses to Editors’ Queries on Education
Robin Burns, Grace Takaheebwa, Robert Aspelagh, Erica Frankenberg, Sylvère Farraudiere
pp. 175-187
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End of the Line: Tracing Racial Inequality from School to Prison
Lizbet Simmons
pp. 215-241
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