Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Jacob Lawrence (September 7, 1917–June 9,
2000) was an African American painter; he was
married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight.

Lawrence is probably among the most well known
twentieth century African American painters, a
distinction also shared by Romare Bearden.
Lawrence's Migration Series made him nationally
famous when it was featured in a 1941 issue of
Fortune Magazine. The series depicts the great
move north of blacks in the Great
Depression|Depression years.

Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
but moved many times over the course of his life,
first making his name in Harlem, Manhattan|Harlem
and finally settling in Seattle, Washington in
1970 to become an art professor at the University
of Washington, where some of his works are now
displayed as part of the Paul G. Allen Center for
Computer Science & Engineering
http://www.cs.washington.edu/building/art/JacobLaw
rence/. In 1998 he received Washington State's
highest honor, The Washington Medal of Merit.

Lawrence's work often portrayed important periods
in African-American history. Among his works are a
series of pieces about the abolitionist John Brown
(abolitionist)|John Brown and another about
Haitian revolutionary Toussaint l'Ouverture.