Nancy Michael

Nancy Michael was commissioned by the African American Heritage Trail on Martha’s Vineyard in 2022. Elaine Weintraub and I talked about how to approach the project seeing there were no pictures of Nancy and historical information was gathered from court and town records. We decided that a figure of her rising from the water with outstretched hands, one blessing the sea captains and the other cursing, would be the appropriate statement. The sculpture is forged and welded stainless steel. Engraving at the bottom reads: WISE WOMAN NANCY MICHAEL, BORN ENSLAVED IN CHILMARK, BECAME A PERSON OF INFLUENCE, WHO BLESSED OR CURSED THE WHALING CAPTAINS BEFORE THEY EMBARKED ON LONG VOYAGES.