Day 25 Black History Month 2021 - Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence (September 1917 – June 2000)
For day 25 of Black History Month, we’d like to highlight Jacob Lawrence, an American artist and painter, who is best known for his works that portray African American life with a vivid style.
Like many African Americans in the early 20th century, Jacob’s parents migrated from the south to the north to escape Jim Crow. His parents separated when he was 10 and his mother put him and his two siblings into foster care in Philadelphia. Eventually, after 3 years, they would be reunited with their mother in Harlem, New York City.
He dropped out of school at the age of 16 but was already showing a lot of promise as an artist and painter. He continued art classes at the Harlem Art Workshop where he was taught by another noted African American artist, Charles Alston. Alston encouraged Jacob to attend the Harlem Community Art Center, which was led by sculptor Augusta Savage, who was able to secure a scholarship for him to attend the American Artists School.
His works often told stories or multiple facets of a single character and would be done in a series of paintings. One of the series he is best known for, is entitled, “The Migration of the Negro” which is a 60 panel series that depicts the migration of African Americans from the south to northern cities after World War 1.
“My pictures express my life and experience. I paint the things I know about and the things I have experienced. The things I have experienced extend to my national, racial and class group. So, I paint the American scene.” – Jacob Lawrence