Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 1: “During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. Acquired 1942. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 3: “In every town Negroes were leaving by the hundreds to go North and enter into Northern industry.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. Acquired 1942. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 14: “Among the social conditions that existed which was partly the cause of the migration was the injustice done to the Negroes in the courts.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 15: “Another cause was lynching. It was found that where there had been a lynching, the people who were reluctant to leave at first left immediately after this.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. Acquired 1942. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 17: “The migration was spurred on by the treatment of the tenant farmers by the planter.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. Acquired 1942. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 22: “Another of the social causes of the migrants’ leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to be found on the streets late at night. They were arrested on the slightest provocation.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 33: “People who had not yet come North received letters from their relatives telling them of the better conditions that existed in the North.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. Acquired 1942. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 48: “Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 52: “One of the largest race riots occurred in East St. Louis.” 1941. Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Jacob Lawrence. The Migration Series. 1940-41. Panel 58: “In the North the Negro had better educational facilities.” Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12″ (45.7 x 30.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Jacob Lawrence. Bus. 1941. Gouache on paper, 18 5/16 x 21 7/8” (47.8 x 55.6 cm). Collection of George Wein, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Spread from Langston Hughes, with woodcut by Jacob Lawrence. One Way Ticket. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1949. Collection Leon F. Litwack. Photograph courtesy Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University. © 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Additional rights by permission of the Estate of Langston Hughes in care of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated
Charles White. Native Son. 1942. Ink on Paper, 27 × 17 1/2″ (68.6 × 44.5 cm). Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C . © 1942 The Charles White Archives. Photograph by James K. Pleasant
Romare Bearden. The Visitation. 1941. Gouache, ink, and pencil on brown paper, 30 1/2 × 46 1/2″ (77.5 × 118.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (by exchange). Art © Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY, Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Cover from William Attaway, with dust jacket by Charles Alston. Blood on the Forge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1941. Collection of Leon F. Litwack. Photograph courtesy Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Gordon Parks. Harlem Newsboy, Harlem, New York. 1943. Gelatin silver print, 14 1/8 × 14″ (35.9 × 35.6 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of The Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art and Committee on Photography Fund. Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Dorothea Lange. On the Road to Los Angeles, California. 1937. Gelatin silver print, 8 1/16 x 7 3/4″ (20.4 x 19.7 cm), The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Farm Security Administration. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Cover from Richard Wright, with photo-direction by Edwin Rosskam. 12 Million Black Voices. New York: Viking Press, 1941. Collection of Leon F. Litwack. Photograph courtesy Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Cover of Josh White’s album Southern Exposure: An Album of Jim Crow Blues, with design by E. Simms Campbell. New York: Keynote Recordings, 1941. Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University Libraries, courtesy Estate of Josh White, Sr., Folk-Blues Music Co./ASCAP (album), courtesy Elizabeth Campbell Moskowitz (album design), images reprinted courtesy Mercury Records, Inc., under license from Universal Music Enterprises, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Images courtesy Museum of Modern Art