Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
Elizabeth Foreman Lewis was an American author known for her significant contributions to children's and young adult literature, particularly with settings and characters influenced by her experiences in China. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was deeply rooted in a family that prioritized religion and literature. From 1917 to 1921, Lewis served as a missionary in China under the Methodist Women's Board, where she held various educational roles, including treasurer of the mission in Shanghai and teacher in Nanking. Despite being compelled to return to the U.S. due to illness, her love for China remained evident in her writing.
Lewis's literary career took off with her novel *Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze* (1932), which won the Newbery Medal in 1933, depicting the life of a young coppersmith apprentice. Her second significant work, *Ho-Ming, Girl of New China* (1934), focuses on a girl's ambition to transcend traditional constraints. Following the death of her husband in 1934, she raised their son while continuing to publish novels, ultimately releasing her last book, *To Beat a Tiger, One Needs a Brother's Help*, in 1956. Lewis's legacy endures through her narratives that blend cultural insight and personal growth. She passed away in 1958.
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Subject Terms
Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
Fiction, Nonfiction and Children's Literature Writer
- Born: May 24, 1892
- Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
- Died: August 7, 1958
- Place of death: Arnold, Maryland
Biography
Elizabeth Foreman Lewis often spoke movingly about the years she spent in China doing missionary work under the auspices of the Methodist Women’s Board. During her time in China, from 1917 to 1921, she served as treasurer of the mission in Shanghai, supervisor of the Chungking district schools, and a teacher of English literature, physical education, and commercial law in Nanking. Although Lewis was forced to return to the United States in 1921 because of illness, her heart never left China, and her subsequent work as an author of books for children and young adults reflects her fascination with that country.
Lewis grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Joseph Francis Foreman and Virginia D. (Bayly) Foreman. Her family valued both religion and literature and Foreman made both central aspects of her life. She studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts from1909 through 1910, the Bryant and Stratton Secretarial School in Baltimore from 1916 through 1917, and the Bible Seminary of New York in 1917 before leaving for China. In Nanking, she met and married John Abraham Lewis, the son of a Methodist bishop.
After Lewis’s return to the United States in 1921, she began writing short stories and novels, all with Chinese settings and characters. Her breakthrough novel was Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze (1932), which won the 1933 Newbery Medal. The novel, a Bildungsroman that takes place in the 1920’s, chronicles the life of a young apprentice coppersmith in Chungking. In her second novel, Ho-Ming, Girl of New China (1934), a young girl aspires to break the superstitions and traditions of her upbringing by becoming a nurse.
Lewis’s husband died in 1934, leaving her to raise their son, John Fulton Lewis, who would go on to become a newspaper editor. She continued to write novels, including three more works for young adults and two for adults, the last of which, To Beat a Tiger, One Needs a Brother’s Help, was published in 1956. Lewis died in 1958.