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Artwork from Jacob Lawrence's "The Migration Series"
A description of Jacob Lawrence’s research for each painting in the series. |
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The Great Migration
By: Smithsonian American Art Museum In the years before World War I, a slow but steady migration of African Americans from the rural south to the urban north began. This was the beginning of a phenomenon called the Great Migration. The booming industrial economy in World War 1-era U.S. contributed to a wealth of job opportunities and better pay for African Americans. Migration also offered the chance to escape discrimination, segregation, and the Jim Crow laws that violated their civil rights. |
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The Great Migration:
Wherever People Move, Home is Where the Heart Is By: Leo Adam Biga During both World Wars, the movement of African Americans out of the South rose to such high levels that it became known as the Great Migration. One of the destinations for Black people leaving the south was Omaha, Nebraska. African Americans came to Omaha to enjoy greater freedom and to take advantage of employment and educational opportunities. |
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Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series
Edited by: Elizabeth Hutton Turner Jacob Lawrence’s words and images conveyed metaphors of injustice, strife, struggle, change, hope, ambition, and even beauty. Lawrence found beauty in the struggle. His text, which he carefully researched and wrote before he ever made an image, clearly explained why people needed to leave and were still leaving.
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