American

Jacob Lawrence

U.S. 1917-2000
The 1920's...The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots 75.0031

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Jacob Lawrence created this print for the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio in response to the question, "What does independence mean to me?" It depicts Southern blacks during the period known as the Great Migration. Like his parents, blacks journeyed North after the First World War and exercised their new found freedom to vote. When Lawrence first attempted printmaking in his late forties, he had been a distinguished painter of the American scene for over twenty-five years. His themes, derived from universal concerns such as the quest for freedom, justice and human dignity, gave full range to his exceptional narrative ability. He created compositions with simple forms and few colors, while his subjects dealt with the struggles of African Americans in society.

 

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