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The Collection

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Five people wait at a train station with their belongings. Two stand, while three sit.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 21: Families arrived at the station very early. They did not wish to miss their trains north. (between 1940 and 1941)

A group of people boarding train cars.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 23: The migration spread. (between 1940 and 1941)

An empty room with the window covered by a green curtain.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 25: They left their homes. Soon some communities were left almost empty. (between 1940 and 1941)

A white man has three black men sign a contract.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 29: The labor agent recruited unsuspecting laborers as strike breakers for northern industries. (between 1940 and 1941)

A woman reads a letter from a relative to a child.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 33: Letters from relatives in the North told of the better life there. (between 1940 and 1941)

A group of travelers with their belongings.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 35: They left the South in great numbers. They arrived in the North in great numbers. (between 1940 and 1941)

Molten steel pours from one container, down into another.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 37: Many migrants found work in the steel industry. (between 1940 and 1941)

A traveler sits alone on a train platform crowded with luggage.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 39: Railroad platforms were piled high with luggage. (between 1940 and 1941)

The white hands of a labor agent grab onto the bars of a jail cell window.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 41: The South was desperate to keep its cheap labor. Northern labor agents were jailed or forced to operate in secrecy. (between 1940 and 1941)

A white man leans on a table in the foreground, with two white men and two black men seated behind him.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 43: In a few sections of the South leaders of both Black and White communities met to discuss ways of making the South a good place to live. (between 1940 and 1941)

Passengers on a train look out the window at Pittsburgh's smokestacks from the steel mills.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 45: The migrants arrived in Pittsburgh, one of the great industrial centers of the North. (between 1940 and 1941)

Many people sleep in a one window room under colorful quilts.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 47: As the migrant population grew, good housing became scarce. (between 1940 and 1941)

Black and white diners are separated by a yellow rope.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 49: They found discrimination in the North. It was a different kind. (between 1940 and 1941)

Bombs burst in homes, while another is on fire.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 51: African Americans seeking to find better housing attempted to move into new areas. This resulted in the bombing of their new homes. (between 1940 and 1941)

Three men carry a coffin covered in flowers.

Jacob Lawrence

The Migration Series, Panel no. 55: The migrants, having moved suddenly into a crowded and unhealthy environment, soon contracted tuberculosis. The death rate rose. (between 1940 and 1941)

Collection Highlights

Collection Highlights Images
Colorful designs with black background, artwork
image for 2019-09-15-family-program
image for 2017-09-07-phillips-after-5
image for 2017-12-07-phillips-after-5
placeholder - Laib Wax Room
Collection Highlights Recent Acquisitions
Collection Highlights The Migration Series
Collection Highlights The Rothko Room
Collection Highlights Luncheon of the Boating Party
Collection Highlights The Wax Room
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