The Great Migration By Jacob Lawrence: Painting Analysis

The 20th century was packed with major events in America’s history. Nearly every decade had a defying event, from the Great Depression to both World Wars. However, while all of that was occurring, there was another event happening at the same time for much of the century. The Great Migration refers to the relocation of African Americans from the rural South to the urban areas in the North. City populations in Chicago and New York, for example, expanded greatly because of this influx. Migrants left the South for these cities because they were full of promise and equality. Or so they believed. After moving up, they found that not all was as they had imagined. There was poor working conditions and racism still prevalent throughout the cities. …show more content…
Painting number 47 depicts a family sleeping in a single bed. This painting is powerful for many reasons. The room is brown and plain. The walls are bare, except for a small window in the corner. And in the room, the sole object is a bed, with eight people sleeping on it. The bed is really the only thing in the painting with color to draw the viewers attention to that. There is green, yellow, blues and red. It really stands out agains the brown room. At first it is hard to tell how many people are there because the only thing that identifies them is their heads, however their heads are difficult to …show more content…
So they were forced into these tiny tenements, and that was all they could get. If they chose to have homes outside of these African American centered areas, they faced racism from their white neighbors. Homes were bombed. They were destroyed. These very poor living spaces were the safest things that the African Americans could find. It was really a lesser of two evils for them. Homes are supposed to be safe. It is a place of comfort and a place for people to call their own. During this time the community of African Americans did not have this type of space. They did not have homes to come back to after their work. They did not have a safe place for themselves to escape from their lives. Even when families returned to their houses, they were still reminded of the lives they left, and the life they have now. These houses were physical manifestations of racism. In fact these types of housing is still around today. These tiny living quarters that Lawrence painted have passed the test of time. These places became what we know as ghettos. Not only were they reminders to the people of the racism that they experienced every day, they now remind us of our past and how little has changed in 100