Augusta Savage (1892-1962) rose from poverty and racism to become a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, a gifted sculptor, teacher, and civil rights activist. The seventh of 14 children born to Edward and Cornelia Fells, she taught herself to fashion animals of clay from a nearby brickyard. A first marriage and motherhood postponed her artistic ambitions. She later married James Savage in 1915 and moved to West Palm Beach. A group of clay figures she created for the County Fair won a cash prize, and its superintendent encouraged her to pursue further formal education. Efforts to make a living by sculpting portraits of Jacksonville’s black elite failed, but sponsors urged her to seek opportunity in New York. There her talent brought commissions and a scholarship to Cooper Union. In 1923, a grant to study art in France was denied because of her race, and her public protest won wide support. Finally sent to Paris in 1929, she received more honors. During the Great Depression, she served as director of the Harlem Community Center, where she mentored many future artists. Her monumental interpretation of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the “Negro National Anthem,” became an icon of the 1939 World's Fair.