In the Media: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Ebony Mourn Passing of Professor Emerita Samella Lewis

Portrait of Professor Emerita of Art Samella Lewis

Samella Lewis, “godmother” of Black art and professor emerita of art, has died at 99, the Los Angeles Times reports. Lewis taught at Scripps for 15 years and was the College’s first tenured African American professor. Her artwork headlined major exhibitions at the Museum of African American History in Detroit and the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans; she also founded the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles County. The College’s Samella Lewis Collection of Contemporary Art at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery was created in her honor in 2007. The Washington Post and Ebony magazine also shared obituaries and remembrances.

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