The '20's...The Migrants Cast Their Ballots

Jacob Lawrence

1 of 2

Object Label

These three screenprints represent a later period in Jacob Lawrence’s career, when he turned his attention to printmaking. Extending a theme from his earlier work—the sixty panels of his landmark Migration Series (1941)—here he continues to treat the history of African Americans who had migrated to the North in great numbers between the 1920s and the 1940s.The artist said:

To me, migration means movement. There was conflict and struggle. But out of the struggle came a kind of power and even beauty. “And the migrants kept coming” is a refrain of triumph over adversity.

The ’20’s . . . The Migrants Cast Their Ballots shows black people exercising the right to vote. The Builders and Harlem Street Scene show Lawrence’s interest in the vibrancy of everyday life—not only in the particular activities shown, but in the humanity and dignity of the people.

Caption

Jacob Lawrence American, 1917–2000. The '20's...The Migrants Cast Their Ballots, 1974. Screenprint, Sheet: 34 1/8 x 27 5/8 in. (86.7 x 70.2 cm) Image: 32 x 24 1/8 in. (81.3 x 61.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Lorillard, 76.77.8. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 76.77.8_PS9.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

The '20's...The Migrants Cast Their Ballots

Date

1974

Medium

Screenprint

Classification

Print

Dimensions

Sheet: 34 1/8 x 27 5/8 in. (86.7 x 70.2 cm) Image: 32 x 24 1/8 in. (81.3 x 61.3 cm)

Signatures

Signed, "Jacob Lawrence" lower right

Inscriptions

Written below bottom edge of image: at left, "5/125"; in center "The 1920's ... The Migrants arrive and cast their Ballots"; at right, "Jacob Lawrence 1974"

Credit Line

Gift of Lorillard

Accession Number

76.77.8

Rights

© artist or artist's estate

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Frequent Art Questions

  • What's happening in this scene?

    This is "The '20's... The Migrants Cast Their Ballots," by Jacob Lawrence. It shows people exercising their right to vote. This work, like his most famous series, "The Migration Series," to which it belongs, focuses on the everyday lives of people during the 20's and 30's, especially black Americans migrating to the North.
    This print was also made after the prompt "what does independence mean to you?," a question posed to artists as part of the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio, made for the American Bicentennial in 1976.

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