|
|
 |
|
 |
Click here to view a larger image |
The Negroes
who had been North for quite some time met their fellowmen with disgust
and aloofness.
The Migration of the Negro, panel
53, 1940-41. Casein tempera on hardboard, 18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5
cm). The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Artwork © Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, courtesy of the Jacob and
Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation |
| |
|
 |
indicates a link to another site
During the Great Migration, an element of tension reverberated between
northern African Americans and African American's who had migrated
from the South. Northern blacks were concerned about the impact that
the newcomers would have on life in the northern cities. In addition
to health and housing issues, northern blacks worried that discrimination
and physical restrictions would increase in response to the great
influx of southern migrants.
Many northern blacks also felt that southern migrants would not "fit
in" in northern urban life. They often urged newcomers to exchange
their rural dress and manners for more "acceptable" behavior
and styles. Organizations such as Chicago's National
Urban League distributed flyers telling migrants that if they
wished to be accepted in northern cities they had to abandon their
rural fashions and customs and adopt the proper dress and actions
of city dwellers.
In this work, Jacob Lawrence portrayed a stylish couple against a
background of a city building. The woman wears a glamorous outfit
and a fox fur; the man wears a dress suit and a top hat, and both
have white gloves, a symbol of class and a more affluent lifestyle. |
|
|
Go to 
www.jacoblawrence.org,
scroll down to the "series" box and select The Migration of
the Negro, 1941 from the pull-down menu. Click on SUBMIT.
• Look at the clothes of the southern migrants in the first half of
Lawrence's Migration Series. How do their clothes differ from those
worn by the northern couple in this image?
Imagine what these two figures would say about African-American migrants
from the South. With a partner or by yourself, write and/or perform a conversation
between a northern black and a southern migrant who has just arrived in
the North. |
