Graphic Artist, Sculptor, Print Maker and Teacher. Elizabeth Catlett was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest of three children of John and Mary Carson Catlett. While at Dunbar High School, she studied under Haley Douglass, a descendant of Frederick Douglass and made her first carving, an elephant, out of soap. After high school she attended Howard University and graduated cum laude, in 1937. She then moved to Durham, North Carolina, and taught art at a black high school and supervised art education in eight elementary schools. She then moved to Iowa and earned the first master's degree awarded by the State University of Iowa. The sculpture "Mother & Child", created for her thesis, won first prize in sculpting at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago in 1940. She studied ceramics at the Art Institute in Chicago, received an appointment as head of the art department at Dillard University, in New Orleans, and then, moved to New York City, where she studied under Ossip Zadkine, one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century. After marrying fellow artist, Charles White, they taught at the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. A few years later, she divorced White and moved to Mexico where she came to know virtually all of Mexico's major artists. She studied Pre-Hispanic ceramic techniques, wood carving and began making lithographs at the Taller de Grafica Popular. She married artist, Francisco Mora, and for many years headed the sculpture department of the National University of Mexico. In a 1961 speech in Mexico City, she called for the abandonment of the idea that all-black art exhibitions meant accepting racism. Until this time, African-American artists shunned any racial identification. Her speech marked a turning point for many black artists, writers and intellectuals resulting in the formation of black artists' groups, and all-black art expositions swept the country. At a time when African-Americans were imprisoned socially, politically and economically, Catlett created sculptures and prints with the deliberate intention of awakening black people to their potential, with an emphasis on the dignity and strength of black women. Her sculptures in the United States and Mexico include monumental public sculpture, wall reliefs, busts, aerial and standing figures, and studio works of busts, torsos, reclining and standing figures. She divided her time between Cuernavaca, Mexico and New York City, working on sculptures and prints. She has received top honors and commissions in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.