1. Story Art – Jacob Lawrence
Presentation modified and prepared by Alice Finch 2012
2nd Grade Art Project
West Mercer Elementary Art Enrichment Program

2. Today’s Project- Story Art
 Part 1
Jacob Lawrence
The Great Migration
Pencil, crayon, paint
Part 2
Captions
Mount paintings on black posterboard
Jacob Lawrence was an African American painter whose work focused on African American history and contemporary life in the United States. Lawrence is noted for his narrative painting style; he loved using art to tell stories.
While he did create visual narratives about historically important African Americans, he also depicted the life and struggles of “everyday” individuals. In 1941, he painted a series of 60 pictures depicting the history of the mass migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. He showed how African American families lived in the South before moving North. He told of their hopes and struggles during their journey, and depicted what happened when they reached the North. You can use the map to show where they lived in the South and where they moved to in the North.
Inform the students of Lawrence’s connection to Seattle. He moved to Seattle in 1970 to teach art at the University of Washington and made this area his permanent home. His work is displayed at local museums and public buildings. He died in Seattle in 2000.
Migrate means to extend a "habitat gradually from an old into a new region" and "to move from one country, place, or locality to another."

3. Jacob Lawrence Born in 1917 in New Jersey
His parents moved from the south to make a better life
In New York, he learned about African American history and art
Gained a reputation as a history painter
Commissioned to paint the Great Migration series
Taught art at the University of Washington

4. Events leading to the Great Migration-1
In the south, much of the land is rural farmland
After slavery was abolished, many slaves stayed to work the land
The were not paid well and so were too poor to own land 

5. Events leading to the Great Migration-2
Pests and floods ruined crops
Panel 9: “They left because the boll weevil had ravaged the cotton crop.”
Children worked in the fields with their parents
Panel 24: “The children were forced to work in the fields. They could not go to school.”

6. Events leading to the Great Migration-3
In the south, they experienced discrimination
Panel 14:
“For African Americans there was no justice in the southern courts.”
Panel 19: “There had always been discrimination.”
In addition to living in poverty, African Americans were discriminated against in the South. Not only were they not able to vote, they were also not able to: use the same water fountains, eat in the same restaurants, or ride in the same train cars as white people. Even worse, many African Americans were beaten, arrested, and sometimes killed by white people in the South.

7. Events leading to the Great Migration-4
World War I changed industry in the north
Many white men went off to war making a shortage of workers
Industrial production increased
Panel 1: "During the World War there was a great migration North by Southern Negroes." ( )

8. The Great Migration

9. The Great Migration- 1 1 million African Americans moved north
 They moved mostly to Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus
Panel 36: “Migrants arrived in Chicago, the gateway to the west.”
Panel 45: "They arrived in Pittsburgh, one of the great industrial centers of the North, in large numbers."

10. Great Migration- 2 Moving to the north did improve their lives
Voting, education, empowerment, and community
Panel 58: “In the north, the African American had more educational opportunities.”
Panel 59: “In the north, they had the freedom to vote.”

11. Life in the north also had its challenges
The Great Migration- 3
Life in the north also had its challenges
Housing became scarce
Discrimination
Panel 49: “They found discrimination in the north. It was a different kind.”
However, there were several realities to the migration that the African Americans did not anticipate, and that did not coincide with their expectations of life in the North: 1) finding a place to live became increasingly difficult as whites worked to restrict newly arrived African Americans to existing black neighborhoods that were already saturated with prior migrants (this led to overcrowding, disease and an increase in crime); 2) discrimination in the North did exist, although it was rooted in custom, rather than law, and 3) African Americans still experienced discrimination in employment: they were relegated to unskilled or semiskilled (and thus, lower paying) positions.

12. The Migration Series
60 paintings done all at the same time, color by color
Paintings numbered and with captions to tell a story
Style called expressive cubism
Panel 3: “ From every southern town, migrants left by the hundreds to travel north.”

13. Story Art Whose story is he telling? How does he show the people?
How does he show objects?
Panel 31: “Migrants found improved housing when they arrived north.”
Panel 60: “And the migrants kept coming.”

14. What kinds of colors does he use?
Panel 5: “Migrants were advanced passage on the railroads, paid for by northern industries.” Panel 39: “ Railroad platforms were piled high with luggage.”

15. Read a book

16. Step 1- Choose scenes
Tell a story of migration by choosing 2 different scenes
Life in the South
Journey north
Life in the north
Scenes should include
people (one, a family, or more)
Simple shapes (a person can be a circle and rectangles)
Big shapes (no fine details)

17. Step 2- sketch Sketch 2 scenes on scratch paper Divide paper in half
South scene on top
North scene on bottom

18. Step 3- Tempera paint Lawrence used only simple, bright colors
Black, white, brown
Red, blue, yellow, green
Do not mix colors
1 brush per color
Paint windows first, then the buildings

19. Step 4- Watercolor paper
Names on the back
Paper in landscape orientation
1 paper for south scene
1 paper for north scene
Draw scenes in pencil
Trace in black crayon

20. Part 2 -Step 5- Captions 2 yellow strips Write names on back in pencil
Write simple sentences to describe your scenes
Get ok from a parent
Trace in sharpie pen

21. Step 6 – Mounting on posterboard
Use glue stick to mount the paintings and captions
Place them on the poster board to make sure they all fit
Then glue them down
Put your name on the back of the black