A daily Black History Month fact that has nothing to do with George Washington Carver, MLK, Jr., or Harriet Tubman. Promise!

Facts about Edmonia Lewis's early years are fuzzy. She was born some time in the 1840s to a mother who was a Chippewa Indian and a father who she described as a free black man from the West Indies. According to Edmonia, her real name was Wild Fire, given to her by her mother. As the story goes, her parents died when she was a young girl, and she lived among the Chippewa Indians. However, her wealthy brother, Samuel Lewis, said that he became her guardian after their parents died. He eventually arranged for her to attend Oberlin College, where there was a hotbed of abolitionist activity. While there, she was accused of poisoning two white female students, and was savagely beaten before her trial, at which she was represented by John Mercer Langston. After she was acquitted in 1862, many of her fellow classmates, most of them white, carried her from the courtroom on their shoulders.

Lewis left Oberlin before finishing her degree to study sculpting in Boston. She quickly found commercial success, and her earnings helped finance a trip to Italy, where she sculpted works with an abolitionist theme. Her masterwork, The Death of Cleopatra, is now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Art. With her work, Lewis sought to dispel the myth that blacks had nothing to offer artistically and intellectually, and insisted on being photographed standing beside her work and explaining it extensively. The date of her death is unknown.

• Ne-Yo, who is currently suing R. Kelly over their tour-gone-wrong, is now rumored to be suing Beyonce over royalties for her song "Irreplaceable," which he wrote. [SOHH]

• South Carolina and its much-talked about statehouse grounds… All you can do is shake your head. [CT]

• Australia starts 'em young. [MHS]

• An annual African American art exhibit in Louisville shows shifting perceptions of black art and artists. [LCJ]

• Some of the diversity depicted in the artwork gracing the halls of the U.S. Capitol included a painting of a slave pushing a buggy. Understandably, some black politicians want to switch things up a bit. [Hill]

• Sorry, but the victory of an Indian-American Republican does not mean that Louisiana doesn't mean that Louisiana's political race issues are over. Are these people insane? [Nation]

• The black CEO of Merrill Lynch is being ousted, but he might get a severance package as large as $159 million. Fire me any day, ML! [WP]

• Hmmm, these headless mannequins look like they're literally black, not like they're supposed to be of African descent. Mountain out of a molehill, Londoners? [TIL]

• I certainly could use a better night's sleep. [SD]

• A rare exhibit of African American art (including Romare Bearden's "Memories of High Cotton" ) is in the works in DC. See it if you can. [BS]

• Black voters are kind of "eh" about John Edwards. Don't tell Danny Glover that! [CO]

• Keith Murray was robbed while working in a South African studio, although I can't imagine the guy keeps very much on him in the way of money. [IOL]

• Lil Wayne's Morgan State "makin' it rain" case gets another plaintiff. [DR]

• Is racism still alive in Southern schools? Uh, are you kidding? [OS]

• J. L. Sudduth, a famous black folk artist known for producing homemade paint out of mud, died at the age of 97 in Alabama. [SJMN]

• Our elderly are living out their days in poorer quality nursing homes. [Reuters]

• As long as black children flood the foster care system, black adults probably need to step up and become foster parents. [KWCH]

• Nigerians still get the worst rap in black America. [AA]

• A confirmation of what everyone knew: a once black city ain't really all that black anymore. [LAT]

Sometimes people spend a lot of money and collect things in a sad attempt to fill other voids in their lives. I'm just sayin'…

'I DON'T know why everything I like has to be, like - the most expensive limestone that was somebody's antique floor in France! For some reason, I always gravitate toward that."

So says Mariah Carey, telling Interview's Ingrid Sischy why she doesn't own very much art. Her tastes are too extravagant.

So is this why she's never wearing enough clothes? She would be totally covered up in extravagant couture, but then she wouldn't have any money. Finally, some understanding!

[NYP via MG]