March 28, 1891

The last published drawing by Henry Jackson Lewis, who had been described as the first black political cartoonist, appeared in the Indianapolis, Indiana, newspaper the Freeman, where his drawings had been published for a number of years. Lewis was born in Mississippi in 1837 or 1838 but had lived in Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) since at least 1872 and had developed promise as a sketch artist, although he had been blinded in one eye and had a maimed left hand as the result of a childhood accident. His drawings were published nationally in Harper’s Weekly and other recognized journals.