Jacob Lawrence:  Students


Jacob Lawrence dropped out of high school and started working when his mother lost her job.  But he wanted to continue learning, so he spent a lot of his time at the Schomburg Library in Harlem.  He was especially interested in studying about black history, which was not being taught in schools at that time.  He won a scholarship to go to art school to continue his training.  He went on to become a respected artist and instructor.  His paintings were shown at museums all over the country, and later he taught at the Pratt Institute in New York and was a professor at Washington University in Seattle.  He also wrote and illustrated books for children. Throughout his life he wanted to teach others about art and about the history of his people.

The library was such a special place to Jacob Lawrence that he painted a series of pictures about it.  He wanted to encourage others to go there to learn about whatever was interesting to them.  What are you especially interested in?  Which are the best books you have ever read?  Do you have a favorite library you like to go to?  Do you like to learn by reading on computers?

Here are some books and web sites which can help you learn more about Jacob Lawrence and some of the subjects that he painted.

Books By Jacob Lawrence
Harriet and the Promised Land
Published:  Simon and Schuster Children's, 1996
ISBN (Identification Number) 0689809654

The Great Migration: An American Story
Published:  Harper Collins Children's Books, 1995
ISBN (Identification Number) 0064434281

Toussaint L'Ouverture: The Fight for Haiti's Freedom
Published:  Simon and Schuster Children's, 1996
ISBN (Identification Number) 0689801262
Books About Jacob Lawrence
Story Painter:  The Life Of Jacob Lawrence, By John Duggleby
Published: Chronicle Books, 1998
ISBN (Identification Number) 0811820823

Jacob Lawrence (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists), By Mike Venezia
Published: Children's Press, 2000
ISBN (Identification Number) 0516265334
Web Sites
Here is a time line of events in black history and Jacob Lawrence's life:
http://www.getty.edu/artsednet/resources/jacoblawrence/timeline.htm

This web site has a brief biography of Jacob Lawrence:
http://www.artnoir.com/index.lawrence.html

This is the web site of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture where Jacob Lawrence started studying black history:
http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html

Art Share is an art appreciation project at Public School 241, Brooklyn, New York, USA
  Gary Greenberg