Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories

A disastrous experience, a misfortune.

Opposition of a conflicting force.

When you are looking at a flat work of art, the background is the space that appears farthest away from you. Artists often use a background to show the setting or where a scene is taking place.

A prejudiced outlook or judgment for or against someone or something.

Casein is found in milk and has adhesive properties. It acts as the agent that binds paint to canvas or wood. Casein tempera also contains lime, powdered pigment, and water.

When everyone agrees on a common conclusion or idea.

The characteristics of a population, such as density, distribution, and other vital statistics, like age and racial and ethnic makeup.

The ability or power to see or make fine distinctions; discernment. Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice, racial discrimination. The term "racial discrimination" means any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, national or ethnic origin.

A binding medium made of egg yolk. Egg yolk is mixed with powdered pigments and distilled water to make egg tempera paints. Egg tempera dries very quickly and the brushstrokes are often visible on the surface of the painting.

The state of being excluded, or not a participant of.

When you are looking at a flat work of art, the foreground is the space or objects that appear closest to you.

An opaque water-based paint, most commonly used for commercial illustration. These paints are made by adding chalk to the pigments to make them opaque. The use of gouache goes back to medieval manuscript illumination and was used in 16th - 18th century miniature painting. Many painters combine gouache, pastel watercolors, and India ink in the same painting.

West African storytellers and entertainers who include history and genealogy in their presentations or performances.

Coming to a country that is not one's native land in order to settle there as a permanent resident.

A vicious act or thing. Wickedness.

Violation of the rights of another. Unfairness, an unjust act or deed.

The maintenance or administration of what is just. The impartial adjustment of conflicting claims. The assignment of merited rewards or punishments.

A machine that rotates work around a horizontal axis and shapes it with a tool.

A reward or punishment.

Moving from one country, region, or place to settle in another.

A central theme which is continuously repeated in a work of art.

A description of a sequence of events that tell a story in a literary or pictorial format.

African Americans used to be identified as Negroes. Negro is an old fashioned term used to refer to people of African descent, living in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Having a positive outlook. Thinking positively.

A flat, thin piece of wood on which artists can paint pictures.

Consisting of pictures. Related to visual images such as paintings, drawings, or photographs.

Having bias against or disliking someone or something without a reason.

A picture or image of a person. A portrait usually looks like the person, but it can also be made of symbols, signs, or words to stand for the person instead.

The act of objecting or dissent. An organized public demonstration of disapproval.

A violent public disorder or disturbance that occurs when a group of three or more people assemble and act with a common intent.

A portrait in which the artist uses him or herself as the subject.

Something--usually a sign or an object--that represents or stands for something else. For example, flags are symbols for countries and hearts are symbols for love.

A type of paint that consists of dry color or pigment, a glutinous substance, (such as egg yolk, casein, or gum), and water. Tempera was the most commonly used medium until the introduction of oil paint.