Midnight City: African American women in History you've never heard of: Joyce Bryant
Consider the “Bronze Blond Bombshell’ or “The Black Marilyn Monroe”, Joyce Bryant was the born the oldest of eight children in Oakland, California, to a mother who was a devout Seventh Day Adventist, but raised in San Francisco when she left home to live with her cousins as a teenager as a…
Top photo: Studio portrait of sculptor Edmonia Lewis, ca. 1870s; Henry Rocher, photographer; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Cartes-de-visite collection
Bottom photo: The Death of Cleopatra by Edmonia Lewis, marble, 1867, collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Much of Edmonia Lewis’ early life is unknown. She is believed to have been born some time between 1840 and 1845, the daughter of an Ojibwa (Chippewa) mother and a free black father from the West Indies. Her parents died when she was very young and her older brother Samuel provided guidance and material support for her.
Lewis attended Oberlin College but left before completing her studies. After an apprenticeship with a master sculptor in Boston, Massachusetts, she opened her own studio. She used the money she earned from selling portraits of abolitionists— plus funds from Samuel— to finance a trip to Italy, where she had dreamed of studying and working. By 1880, she had settled there permanently, returning to the US frequently to show and sell her work. She gained international acclaim for her portraits of abolitionists and for her depictions of ethnic and religious themes.
By the turn of the 20th century, the neoclassical genre Lewis favored became less popular, and she faded into obscurity. She never married and had no known children. The details of where and when Lewis died remained a mystery until fairly recently. However, in 2011,
a British historianan African American cultural historian named Marilyn Richardson uncovered evidence that indicated the artist was living in London when she died on September 17, 1907.For more information about Edmonia Lewis, please visit her biographer’s website at http://edmonialewis.com/.
Flintstones Bedrock City - Custer, South Dakota
Bedrock City, located on 30 acres, just outside of Custer, South Dakota, opened in 1966 by two local cement plant owners with an idea to build a replica of the popular Flintstones town of Bedrock.
The town features all the popular characters, their houses, Main Street, a City Hall, a Fire House, a working Cimena, a radio station, grocery store, police department and a Flintstones version of Mt. Rushmore (located nearby) called Mt. Rockmore.
Originally, the town and characters were made of cement but the majority of them have been replaced by fiberglass replicas of the original.
There is also a campground located behind the park that features an arcade, laundry, swimming pool, playground and putt-putt golf course.
Check out Roadside America and the Bedrock City website for more information.
I’d kick it in Bedrock!
"There are two methods for cultivating the uniqueness of the self: the method of addition and the method of subtraction."
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Milan Kundera, Immortality (via differenceetrepetition)
(via mythologyofblue)Indeed.
(via larkinaround)
