Jacob Lawrence, 1917 – 2000, Migrants Cast Their Ballots, 1974, Serigraph on paper, Gift of the Lorillard Corporation, AG.1976.1.8.
This image is one of twelve prints included in the Kent Bicentennial Portfolio: Spirit of Independence, commissioned to celebrate the country’s 200th birthday. Leading American artists were asked to create works that spoke to their interpretation of independence.
This print by Jacob Lawrence relates to his earlier series, The Migration of the Negro (1940-41), a suite of 60 oil paintings depicting the epic movement of African Americans from the rural South to northern cities between 1900 and 1930. Here the migrants exercise their right to vote, something they were not able to do in the South.
