The Migration of the Negro
The Migration of the Negro , Panel no. 49. Jacob Lawrence. 1940– 1941 C.E. Casein tempera on Hardboard. They also found discrimination in the North although it was much different from that which they had known in the South. Series of small paintings. 60 in total. Documents migration of African Americans; young artist, age 24. Agricultural south to industrial north at the end of 19th/beginning of 20th centuries. Labor in the north, racism in south influenced this move; 6 million people moved; Lawrence’s family was one of them. New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh; industrial centers. Geometric shapes; flat colors; education, domesticity, labor, travel; series is about movement and change; train stations; trains packed continuously with migrants; new life in urban centers; unable to make a living in south, flooding; poverty, food had doubled in price; south lost labors, crops died; frequently arrested; child labor, lack of education in s...