In this C. Mildred Thompson lecture, Professor Jennifer Brody ’87 discusses her forthcoming book, Moving Stones: About the Art of Edmonia Lewis. It explores the extraordinary life and work of Edmonia Lewis, the Black and Ojibwe sculptor who rose to international fame in the nineteenth century. Brody approaches Lewis’s legacy through a Black feminist and queer lens, illuminating how her sculptures and self-fashioning challenged the constraints of her time. Brody considers how Lewis’s works were viewed historically and how they resonate with postmodern artists.

Jennifer DeVere Brody, who holds a BA in Victorian Studies (now called Global Nineteenth-Century Studies) from Vassar, is a Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford University. The author of several monographs, including Impossible Purities: Blackness, Femininity and Victorian Culture (Duke UP, 1998) and Punctuation: Art, Politics and Play (Duke 2008), Brody works at the intersection of nineteenth-century British studies, African and African American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and visual and performance studies. Her lecture will be held in Taylor Hall 203 on April 2, 2026, at 5:30 p.m.

Sponsored by the Department of History, Department of English, Department of Art, Program in Global Nineteenth-Century Studies, Program in American Studies, Program in Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies, and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.

This event is free and open to the public.