JACOB'S LADDER CROSSING URBAN BORDERS The New Media Classroom Borough of Manhattan CC July 10 - 14, 2000

Jacob Lawrence

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Jacob's Ladder: Migration Stories through Visual Art

OVERVIEW:

The role of community storyteller, so vital to African life, was assumed by the American painter Jacob Lawrence in 1941, when he painted the sixty-panel cycle called Migration of the Negro. In vivid images and compelling words the movement of millions of African Americans, in the 1920s and '30s, from the rural South to the urban North were depicted in eight sections including Causes of the Migration; The Effects of the Migration on Various Parts of the North; and The Effects of the Migration on the Negro. Each panel shows the promise of freedom and opportunity, culture shock of city living, and preservation of traditions while creating a new life.

OBJECTIVES:

• Students will understand how visual art can help interpret events in the American past
• Students will understand the work of a history painter

Standard 3: Understand visual art in relation to history and cultures

Standard 4: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines

Standard 6: Choose and evaluate a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

PowerPoint Slides
(See desktop)

Activity worksheet

National Standards for Art Education
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/professional_resources/standards/natstandards/standards_912.html

ACTIVITY:

Step 1: (30 minutes)

Working with your partner, briefly read through the descriptions of each Migration series panel. Then, examine as many images as possible from the series on the PowerPoint slides found on your desktop. Take particular note of some of the symbols, forms, color, and patterns found on each panel.

NOTE: there are eight sections for the Migration series:

Causes of the Migration
Stimulation of the Migration
The Spread of the Migration
The Efforts to Check the Migration
Public Opinion Regarding the Migration
The Effects of the Migration on the South
The Effects of the Migration on Various Parts of the North
The Effects of the Migration on the Negro

Step 2: (30 minutes)

Pretend you are a community storyteller; you have witnessed an event, situation, or occurrence now associated with the Great Migration, for example: a lynching, crowded train stations, a race riot, a labor or land issue, church sermon, or group organizing. How would you illustrate this episode using Lawrence's panels?

Select not more than five panels to illustrate what you witnessed. Write an outline of an essay for a general interest publication on how the panels help to further understanding of the event.

Be sure to address: a) some of the key features of the images which illustrate your event; b) the importance or meaning of the artwork; and c) how such art forms as storytelling, film, music, and literature may have influenced the development of the work.

If you have time, include a personal perspective. Search History Matters for an oral account on the Great Migration. Also include any prior knowledge you have on the topic including migration stories you've heard from family, friends, and colleagues.

American Visions
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanvisions/menu.html

The Jacob Lawrence Project
http://www.jacoblawrence.org

I'll Make Me a World
http://www.pbs.org/immaw/

Meet with others who used these resources to share insights, ideas, and reflections on your experience of doing this activity. Begin by briefly sharing your ideas for the presentations and then discuss the activity, using the following questions as prompts:

• What could students learn from this activity about the Great Migration? What kinds of background information would students need to effectively engage in this activity?
• Would this activity, or some variation of it, work in your classroom or site? How would you reshape it for your audience? How would you combine it with other resources or sequence it with other lessons?
• What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of this activity? Is it a good vehicle for developing student skills in inquiry, exploring primary sources, and developing arguments?
• How would you describe the pedagogy (or principles of teaching/learning) that informs this activity? What aspects of the activity help to make it effective? What skills and modes of thinking does it support? Do the electronic resources suit the assignment's goals? What can we learn from this activity about the kinds of inquiry assignments that work best when using new media?
• How might this activity fit into a "Great Migration" unit?

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