online: www.rihumanities.org email: info@rihumanities.org phone: 401-273-2250
Learn about the life and work of Elizabeth Prophet, a 1918 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design who sculpted in wood, stone, and marble. While census records record her as either a mulatto or an Indian, her strongest personal and professional ties were with African Americans, including her husband, W.E.B DuBois, and Countee Cullen. She won prizes in Newport for her work, and refused an offer of patronage from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Except during years spent studying in Paris and teaching at the University of Atlanta, Rhode Island was her home. This slide presentation explores the motivations for her art and the conditions in which she struggled to define herself as an artist.
Jane Lancaster is an award-winning teacher, researcher, and writer. She received a PhD from Brown University, writing a dissertation on the life of engineer Lillian Moller Gilbreth (the mother of twelve celebrated in Cheaper by the Dozen). Her work on Rhode Island women has been published in periodicals ranging from the Providence Journal to the Journal of American History.
Availability: is sometimes away during the summer months Needs: slide projector and screen; lighted lectern/water
Needs: slide projector and screen; lighted lectern/water