MoMA Learning



They were very poor.
Number 10, from a series of 60 works		 The railroad stations in the South were crowded with people leaving for the North.
Number 32, from a series of 60 works


One of the largest race riots occurred in East St. Louis.
Number 52, from a series of 60 works		 Among one of the last groups to leave the South was the Negro professional who was forced to follow his clientele to make a living.
Number 56, from a series of 60 works

All images:
Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917-2000). The Migration Series. 1940-41. Tempera on gesso on composition board, 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm). Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, courtesy the Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation

How to read a label

The Migration Series is based on the mass exodus of African Americans from the southern United States to the North during the first half of the twentieth century. Lawrence researched the Great Migration and was amazed to learn that between 1910 and 1920 the black population of New York increased by half and between 1920 to 1930 it doubled. These numbers reflect the poor conditions for blacks in the South and the allure of better opportunities in the North.

Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as his family was migrating from the South to the North. They finally settled in Harlem, New York City, when he was in his early teens. He grew up listening to stories from family, friends, and neighbors about those who chose to stay behind, those who chose to make the move North, and the dramatically different urban environments they encountered.

There are sixty images in this series of paintings; there are thirty in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art and thirty in the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

  1. Does this information change the way you see these paintings?

  2. Do you think the titles of each painting are important? Why or why not?

 

 

© 2001 The Museum of Modern Art, New York