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The trains were packed continually with migrants

The trains were packed continually with migrants

Jacob Lawrence
American, 1917–2000
1940-41
A casein tempera on hardboard by Jacob Lawrence that shows a packed train car of Black migrants, meant to document and dramatize the continual movement of people during the Great Migration.
Seen from above, flattened rows of sleeping figures form a rhythmic pattern of dark heads and colored blankets flanking a worn central aisle, conveying claustrophobia, weariness, and quiet motion in a single glance.
One panel of Lawrence’s Migration Series, it helped make African American social history visible within a modernist pictorial language—using simplified shapes, bold color, and narrative sequence to turn documentary subject matter into art.
Medium
Casein tempera on hardboard
Dimensions
18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm)
Classification
Credit
Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy
Accession
28.1942.3
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
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Very Similar

> 65%
And the migrants kept coming 92%

And the migrants kept coming

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

And the migrants kept coming 92% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.30
They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the South. They often went to railroad stations and arrested the Negroes wholesale, which in turn made them miss their train 92%

They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the... 92% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.21
The migrants arrived in great numbers 91%

The migrants arrived in great numbers

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The migrants arrived in great numbers 91% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.20
The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with people leaving that special guards had to be called in to keep order 89%

The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with p...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The railroad stations were at times so over-packed with p... 89% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.6
The railroad stations in the South were crowded with people leaving for the North 89%

The railroad stations in the South were crowded with peop...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The railroad stations in the South were crowded with peop... 89% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.16
The migration gained in momentum 88%

The migration gained in momentum

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The migration gained in momentum 88% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.9
And people all over the South began to discuss this great movement 85%

And people all over the South began to discuss this great...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

And people all over the South began to discuss this great... 85% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.13
They also worked in large numbers on the railroad 84%

They also worked in large numbers on the railroad

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

They also worked in large numbers on the railroad 84% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.19
One of the main forms of social and recreational activities in which the migrants indulged occurred in the church 83%

One of the main forms of social and recreational activiti...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

One of the main forms of social and recreational activiti... 83% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.27
They did not always leave because they were promised work in the North. Many of them left because of Southern conditions, one of them being great floods that ruined the crops, and therefore they were unable to make a living where they were 83%

They did not always leave because they were promised work...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

They did not always leave because they were promised work... 83% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.4
Another of the social causes of the migrants' leaving was that at times they did not feel safe, or it was not the best thing to be found on the streets late at night. They were arrested on the slightest provocation 83%

Another of the social causes of the migrants' leaving was...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

Another of the social causes of the migrants' leaving was... 83% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.11
They arrived in great numbers into Chicago, the gateway of the West 82%

They arrived in great numbers into Chicago, the gateway o...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

They arrived in great numbers into Chicago, the gateway o... 82% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.18
In every home people who had not gone North met and tried to decide if they should go North or not 82%

In every home people who had not gone North met and tried...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

In every home people who had not gone North met and tried... 82% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.15
The World War had caused a great shortage in Northern industry and also citizens of foreign countries were returning home 81%

The World War had caused a great shortage in Northern ind...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The World War had caused a great shortage in Northern ind... 81% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 12 x 18" (30.5 x 45.7 cm) American 28.1942.1
The labor agent who had been sent South by Northern industry was a very familiar person in the Negro counties 81%

The labor agent who had been sent South by Northern indus...

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

The labor agent who had been sent South by Northern indus... 81% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.14
Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem 81%

Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem

Jacob Lawrence

1940-41

Housing for the Negroes was a very difficult problem 81% Jacob Lawrence 1940-41 Casein tempera on hardboard Painting Painting & Sculpture 18 x 12" (45.7 x 30.5 cm) American 28.1942.24