Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1917, to parents who migrated from the American South to the North during World War I. He was the first African American artist to be represented by a major New York gallery (the Downtown Gallery) and the first to receive sustained mainstream recognition in the United States. He exhibited regularly in New York throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, when many African American artists were denied professional consideration. He has been the subject of numerous major retrospective exhibitions and his work is represented in hundreds of museum collections. A devoted teacher most of his life, Lawrence accepted a tenured position at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1971 and retired as a professor emeritus in 1986. Lawrence was actively painting until several weeks before his death, on June 9, 2000.
We crossed the River at McKonkey’s Ferry 9 miles above Trenton . . . the night was excessively severe . . . which the men bore without the least murmur . . .—Tench Tilghman, 27 December 1776, Panel 10, 1954
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In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit . . . —Jefferson to Lewis & Clark, 1803, Panel 18, 1956
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Victory and Defeat, Panel 13, 1955
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We have no property! We have no wives! No children! We have no city! No country! —petition of many slaves, 1773, Panel 5, 1955
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120.9.14.286.9.33-ton 290.9.27 be at 153.9.28.110.8.19.255.9.29 evening 178.9.8 —an informer’s coded message, Panel 11, 1955
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There are combustibles in every State, which a spark might set fire to. Washington, 26 December 1786, Panel 16, 1956
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And a Woman Mans a Cannon, Panel 12, 1955
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Peace, Panel 26, 1956
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. . . is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? —Patrick Henry, 1775, Panel 1, 1955
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Massacre in Boston, Panel 2, 1954
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. . . again the rebels rushed furiously on our men. —a Hessian soldier, Panel 8, 1954
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