The Color LineThe Color Line

It was the middle of the nineteenth century when Lafanu Brown audaciously decided to become an artist. Life was especially tough for Black women, but she didn't let that stop her. The daughter of a Chippewa woman and an African-Haitian man, Lafanu had the rare opportunity to study, travel, and follow her dreams. Now, in 1887, she is living in Rome as one of the city's most established painters. In 2019, an Italian art curator of Somali origin is desperately trying to bring to Europe her younger cousin, who is only sixteen and has already tried to reach Italy on a long, treacherous journey.