His forty-one panel Toussaint L’Ouverture, series is included in the Amistad Research Center’s permanent art holdings. One of only few Black artists whose works are included in standard survey books on American art, Jacob Lawrence enjoyed a highly successful career that spanned over a half century.

Lawrence and his family had settled in Harlem, New York when he was a young teenager. He attended Utopia Children’s Center that was operated by famed artist Charles Alston. Struck by young Lawrence’s evolving artistic talent, Alston encouraged Lawrence’s work. In the early days of his career, Lawrence showed a strong affinity building his compositions from simple geometric forms and for working several canvases at the same time. Lawrence work was briefly interrupted when his family fell on hard times during the Great Depression. He dropped out of school and enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps and the New Deal jobs program where he was temporarily stationed in upstate New York. Returning to Harlem, Lawrence found refuge at the Harlem Community Art Center which was under the direction of famed sculptor Augusta Savage. Lawrence honed his skill as a painter.

His “moment” in New York occurred during a pivotal point in the state’s history—at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Lawrence’s exposure to visual artists and members of the social and intellectual community such as activists Allain Locke, Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas, and Romare Bearden who “emphasized cultural identity and Black achievement,” would have a lasting impact on his work. In 1937, Lawrence who achieved critical acclaim early in his career, won a scholarship to the American Artists School in New York. Lawrence also received funding from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939. By then, his early modernist style was in full maturation and Lawrence began work on the first of his narrative series. It brought Lawrence critical acclaim on a very impressive stage. One of the hallmarks of Lawrence’s work was his use of vivid colors, tempera paints, and expressionist images set against Black and brown figures.

However, in the late 1940s his palette waned during an emotionally fragile time in his career. Lawrence’s palette was more subdued colors and his expressionistic figures that appeared ready to leap off the page was rendered melancholy figures. The artists’ “dark period.” in his paintings, was in stark contrast to his other more vibrant works.

Lawrence is remembered as a “social realist,” by many historians. He used the power of his palette to narrate and offer relevant political commentary on the historic significance and symbolism of African/American experiences throughout the diaspora. Despite his hugely successful career, Lawrence who received numerous accolades remained humble.

In 1971, he accepted a tenured position as a professor at University of Washington in Seattle. Lawrence, who had the opportunity to teach and mentor generations of students, taught there until he retired in 1986. Jacob Lawrence died in Seattle in 2000.