Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s "Ethiopia"

1921

The statue used Pan-Africanist imagery to represent the New Negro Movement.

Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller’s Ethiopia is considered the first Pan-Africanist artwork made in the United States. Ethiopia celebrates connections between African Americans and Africa and embodies the New Negro Movement—an era of increased racial pride during the 1920s.

W. E. B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson commissioned Fuller to create Ethiopia for the “Americans of Negro Lineage” section in the America’s Making Exposition, an event celebrating America’s diversity. Fuller’s sculpture connects ancient Egypt’s cultural achievement, Ethiopia’s resistance to colonial rule, and African Americans’ struggle for civil rights.