Laura Wheeler Waring (May 26, 1887 – February 3, 1948) was an African-American artist and educator, most renowned for her realistic portraits, landscapes, still-life, and well-known African American portraitures she made during the Harlem Renaissance. She was one of the few African American artists in France, a turning point of her career and profession where she attained widespread attention, exhibited in Paris, won awards, and spent the next 30 years teaching art at Cheyney University in Pennsylvania.
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Early life, and education
Laura Wheeler was born on May 26, 1887, in Hartford, Connecticut, the fourth child of six, to Mary (née Freeman) and Reverend Robert Foster Wheeler. Her mother was a teacher and an amateur artist and daughter of Amos Noë Freeman, a Presbyterian minister, and Christiana Williams Freeman, a seamstress, who had been prominent in anti-slavery activities, including the Underground Railroad in Portland, Maine and Brooklyn, New York. Her father was the pastor of Talcott Street Congregational Church, the first all-black church in Connecticut. She came from an educated family with five previous generations of college graduates before her.