"Selma Hortense Burke"(December 31,1900-August 29,1995)

Is one of the few African-American women sculptors who achieved a high

level of national recognition during her lifetime.Selma received national recognition for her relief portrait of Frank Delano Roosevelt which was his model on the dime.She was born in Mooresville,North Carolina,one of of ten children of Neal Burke,a local Methodist minister and Mary Jackson Burke.Selma received her formal educational training from Winston Salem University and later graduated in 1924 as a registered nurse from St.Agnes Training for Nurses in Raleigh,North Carolina.After graduating she moved to New York where she worked as a private nurse.While in New York,Selma began to focus on her artistic creations.Through a second brief marriage Claude Mckay,she became associated with the Harlem Renaissance.Working in Harlem for the works Progress Administration and the Harlem Artist Guild,she began teaching art appreciation and education to New York youth.During the 1930s,Selma traveled across Europe studying and honing her skills as an artist under Aristide Maillol of Paris and Povolney of Vienna.In 1940 she opened the Selma Burke School of Sculpture in New York City and the following year graduated With a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Columbia University.In 1942 she joined the navy making her one of the first African American women to enroll.While in the Navy,Selma was commissioned to do a bronze relief portrait of President Delano Roosevelt.The portrait she created was adapted by the mint and is currently on U.S. dimes.She founded the Selma Burke Art Center in Pittsburg,Pennsylvania in 1968 where she continued to introduce art to inner-city youth.Selma was widely lauded for engagement in civic organizations and endeavors in the Pittsburgh area.July 20,1975 was adopted as Selma Burke by former Governor Milton Shapp of Pennsylvania.Some of her most notable sculptures include Temptation (1938),Despair (1951),Fallen Angel (1958),Mother & Child (1968),and together (1975).A nine-foot statue of Martin Luther King,Jr.she completed while in her eighties is on display in Marshall Park in Charlotte,North Carolina.She received numerous awards and honors which included three honorary doctorate degrees.In 1979 Selma was recognized by President Jimmy Carter for her contribution to African American art history.