Jacob Lawrence and the Great Migration Series

Artist Biography

One of the biggest population shifts in the history of the United States occurred during the period around World War I as hundreds of African Americans left their homes and farms in the South and migrated north to industrial cities in search of employment.
Jacob Lawrence grew up knowing people on the move. Indeed, his own family was part of the first big wave of migration between 1916 and 1919. His parents met while they were en route to New York. His mother was from Virginia, while his father was born in South Carolina.
Lawrence was born in 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When he was 13, the family moved to Harlem in New York City. There Lawrence went to school and attended an after-school arts-and crafts program. It was during this period that he decided to become an artist. At first, he just made designs but later
progressed to painting street scenes.
Inspiration was not far away. Friends and teachers helped him understand how his own experiences fit into the history of all African Americans in the United States. He also spent countless hours at the Schomburg Library, reading books about the great migration.
In 1940, at the age of 22, he began his Migration series. One year later it was completed. The series consisted of 60 numbered panels that told the story of the people who made the choice to move away from their homes. In his own words, “. . . I wanted to show what made the people get on those northbound trains. I also wanted to show what it cost to ride them.” Each panel measured a mere 18" x 12" (45 cm x 30 cm), but altogether they made a powerful and moving statement.


Great Web Resources
Experience Lawrence's "Migration Series"

Click HERE to see the play created by Greenville Renaissance Scholars about the Migration.

The Great Migration by Jacob Lawrence (HarperCollins Publishers, 1993).

"One Way Ticket" By Langston Hughes

Listen to Langston Hughes read this poem! 

     One Way Ticket

By Langston Hughes 

I pick up my life,
And take it with me,
And I put it down in
Chicago, Detroit,
Buffalo, Scranton,
Any place that is
North and East,
And not Dixie.

I pick up my life
And take it on the train,
To Los Angeles, Bakersfield,
Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake
Any place that is
North and West,
And not South.

I am fed up
With Jim Crow laws,
People who are cruel
And afraid,
Who lynch and run,
Who are scared of me
And me of them

I pick up my life
And take it away
On a one-way ticket-
Gone up North
Gone out West
Gone

Great Migration Artwork

Great Sites about the Great Migration

• Students: Click on these websites to explore the gallery of images taken during the early 1900s of segregation.  Examine how these photos "pushed" African Americans to leave the South and migrate North.

Historic Photos of the Migration: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html
AAME: Great Migration Site: http://www.inmotionaame.org/migrations/landing.cfm?migration=8&bhcp=1

• Once you have viewed these historic photos, go through African American artist, Jacob Lawrence's, Great Migration Series.  The series is divided into four parts. What would be a good name for each of the parts of the series?

Jacob Lawrence's Great Migration Painting Series: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/odonnell/w1010/edit/migration/migration.html

Donuts Galore

500 dozen donuts...


That's 6000 Krispy Kreme donuts.
Here today, gone tomorrow.

I was really impressed to see how the parents came out to help support this trip.
In only two weeks, the students and the parents sold 500 boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts to raise funds for the Solomon Middle School Great Migration Trip to Chicago.
It is really encouraging to have the support of such dedicated parents.
Thanks for all your help.

Mr. W.