Selma Burke: Her Art Work Appears On the U.S. Dime

Selma Burke standing beside her bronze relief portrait of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in July 1945, at its first public showing.

Selma Burke was an outstanding sculptor, educator, and role model for aspiring Black artists. She started sculpting as a child. At the age of seven, she liked to dig in the dirt of her home in Mooresville, North Carolina. She would squeeze wet clay through her fingers and she once said that, “it was there in 1907 that I discovered me.”

Selma was born to Neal and Mary Elizabeth Burke in 1900. Her full name was Selma Hortense Burke. She was the 7th of ten children. Her father was an AME Zion minister who encouraged her interest in art. However, her mother insisted that she go to school to enter a profession where she could earn a living. So Selma studied nursing. She became a registered nurse and moved to New York City where she worked as a nurse. Every moment that she could, Selma molded raw materials into various shapes. This was her first love. She loved to create historical figures out of wood, brass, and stone.

Selma Burke became known for her work and earned a fellowship to study art. In 1935, she received a grant from the Rosenwald Foundation and in 1936 she was awarded a grant from the Boehler Foundation. She also traveled to Europe and studied under famous sculptors in Vienna and Paris. In 1941, she earned a Fine Arts degree from Columbia University in New York City.

She taught art for the next 40 years working some of the time at the Harlem Community Art Center. Selma also founded the Selma Burke Art School and Art Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is best known for the portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt that was the model for his image on the U.S. Dime. Dr. Selma Burke also did sculptures of such famous people as Booker T. Washington, Duke Ellington, Mary McCleod Bethune, John Brown and President Calvin Coolidge.

Selma Burke earned two doctorate degrees. She became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Governor Milton Shapp declared July 29, 1975 Selma Burke Day in recognition of her outstanding contributions toward art and education. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter honored her at the White House for her work to the visual arts and called her “a shining beacon” for all artists. Selma Burke died at the age of 94 in 1994 in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

The next time you look at the U.S. dime, remember the art work of Dr. Selma Burke.