July 12, 2000
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Jacob Lawrence
The march against bigotry
in Mississippi
by
M arian W right E delman
for T he
P ortland O bserver
Jacob Lawrence, one o f America’s leading modem
painters, died on June 9 at age 82. His work received
critical acclaim throughout his long career, and his
numerous honors and awards included the National
Medal o f Arts presented to him by President George
Bush, the N.A.A.C.P.’s Spingam
Medal, and honorary degrees from
o v e r tw en ty c o lle g e s and
universities, including Harvard
and Yale. But 1 also remember him
as a special friend to children and
to the Children’s Defense Fund
and as a man who walked humbly
on this earth. When my alma mater
Spelman College gave him an
honorary degree, I was struck by
his quiet simplicity o f manner.
Jacob Lawrence was famous for
his depictions ofBlack history and
Black historical figures that hang
in galleries and museums across
the country, and he used the same
Jacob Lawrence
talen t and su b je c t m a tte r in
childrens’ btxik illustrations. I was especially honored
when he provided the special signed and numbered
limited edition silk-screen print Forward Together from
his Harriet Tubm an series to commemorate the
Children’s Defense Fund” 25thanniversary.
This great artist and his siblings spent parts o f their
own childhood in foster homes before being reunited
with their mother in Philadelphia and then moving with
herto Harlem in 1930, when Jacob Lawrence was 13.His
mother enrolled him in his first art classes, and when he
dropped out o f high school at 16 he worked at a laundry
and a printing plant while continuing to attend classes
with Charles Alston, the artist who became his mentor.
At Alston’s studio in the 1930’s he met such leading
figures o f the Harlem Renaissance as writers Langston
Hughes, Alain Locke, Ralph Ellison, and Richard
Wright, painters Aaron Douglas and William Johnson,
and sculptor Augusta Savage. Savage helped him get
a job with the W.P.A. Federal Art Project, and this
important step allowed-him to begin painting as a
career.
By the time Jacob Lawrence was 21 he had begun
painting the kinds o f multi-part series o f narratives
depicting Black history for which he is best known
portraying figures like Frederick Douglass, Harriet
Tubman, and Haitian slave rebellion leader Toussaint
L ’Ouverture. A 1940 grant from the Julius Rosenwald
Fund allowed him to rent an $8-a-month studio with out
heat or running water where he painted the signature
work “The M igration ofthe American Negro,” a series
o f 60 panels which told the story o f the millions of
CONTRIBUTED STORV
for T he P o ri land O bserver
• Probes sought in the deaths o f honor student ravnard
johnson and Mississippi ja il inmates
This past weekend, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition (RPC) returned to Mississippi
to host a series o f rallies and marches in an attempt to secure answers
surrounding the mysterious deaths o fa 17-year-old national merit scholar and
more than 40 Mississippi jail inmates.
The first march began on July 8, 2000 at the West Marian High School in
Foxworth, where Raynard Johnson was an honor student and athlete. From the
school, in the scorching 90 plus-degree weather, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson led the
marchers, including the mothers ofRaynard and Emmett Till, to the Johnson’s
home in Kikomo, where Raynard’s body was found hanging from a tree. Once
there, they rallied for justice and racial harmony before traveling west to
Gulfport fora 5 p.m. rally at the St. James Baptist Church at 604 25 St.
The second march began at 2 p.m. on Sunday July 9,2000 at Duckworth Park
in Columbia and concludes at the Marion County Court House. There, Rev.
Jackson convened a 5 p.m. rally.
“Mississippi must come alive,” Rev. Jackson said. “Mississippi, let’s rally to
stop the killings. Mississippi should not be left at a lower expectation than any
other state.”
The Facts:
When Jerry Johnson approached the driveway o f his home on June 16th, about
9:30 p.m., he found the body o f Raynard hanging from a small pecan tree.
Raynard's body was not suspended. His feet were on the ground; his knees
were slightly bent and a belt was tied around his neck. The death was initially
ruled a suicide, but due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the
death, authorities have recently launched a criminal investigation. The Rev.
Jackson, family members and other concerned citizens believe Johnson was
lynched, because he had established a close friendship with white females. The
RPC is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and
conviction.
W hile this investigation continues, RPC officials will also urge investigators
to probe the recent mysterious deaths o f more than 40 Mississippi inmates,
who died while in police custody. Most o f these deaths have been ruled
suicides, but Rev. Jackson and human rights groups believe bigotry could
have led to their deaths.
“Columbia is where Walter Payton’s (the late Hall o f Fame running back for
the Chicago Bears) father was killed,” Rev. Jackson said. “He turned himself
in under his own power, because they said he was drinking. But he left the jail
in a body bag.”
Rev. Jackson said he invited Mamie Mobley, the mother o f the late Emmett
Till, to the events, because her participation with Mrs. Johnson, shows
“ solidarity” in the struggle for justice.
During the summer o f 1955, Emmett, a-14-year-old Chicago native, was
savagely beaten and thrown in the muddy Mississippi River for allegedly
whistling at a white woman. Emmett’s highly publicized death is one o f the
events that pushed the civil rights movement into high gear.
RPC officials hope Raynard’s death will force the nation to address the rise
in hate crimes and racial intolerance.
“All races need to come together to work towards a new Mississippi, a
Mississippi that practices equal protection under the law, a Mississippi that
practices due process and encourage economic and social justice,” Rev.
Jackson said. “Let’s fight back together. W e can win.”
southern Blacks like his own parents who moved to
Northern cities after World War I. The “Migration”
series brought him national recognition and respect
that lasted throughout the rest o f the long career of
painting and teaching he shared with his wife, artist
Gwendolyn Knight. His work is in many museums,
including the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum o f
Modem Art, and the Whitney in New York and the
Phillips Collection in Washington,
DC.
The beauty and power o f his
bold, graphic style is easily
captured in the versions o f his
paintings he used as childrens'
book illustrations. The G reat
Migration: An American Story,
Toussaint L ’Ouverture: The Fight
for Haiti’s Freedom (text by Walter
Dean Myers), John Brown: One
Man Against Slavery (text by
Gwen Everett), Harriet and the
Prom ised Land, and A esop’s
F a b le s c a p tu re c h ild r e n ’s
im aginations and teach them
about key events in Black history
while exposing them to the work o f
one o f the most important American artists. This may
be an ideal opportunity to add one or more o f these
books to the summer reading lists o f your children or
other children you may know.
At the same time, reading these books could also
lead to a visit to a local museum that holds one o f
Jacob Lawrence’s paintings in order to enjoy the
beauty o f seeing them first-hand. W hen he was a
young man, he would often walk the 60 blocks from
his home to the Metropolitan Museum o f Art to
admire and study the paintings. Maybe there is a
young boy or girl making the same trip today to
admire his paintings who will grow up to be another
Jacob Lawrence.
Forward together is on display at the Children’s
Defense Fund’s office in Washington, D.C. and the
former Alex Haley Farm, CD F’s spiritual retreat and
renewal center in Clinton, Tennessee. The print is
taken from Through Forests, Through Rivers, Up
Mountains, a 1967 work that was part o f Jacob
Lawrence’s “Harriet and the Promised Land” series.
I am awed every time I look at it again. In its striking
colors and shapes, in the power o f Harriet Tubm an’s
extended hand gathering people in, and in the wooded
and difficult path to freedom that men, women, and
children are helping one anotherto travel together, he
gives a powerful interpretation o f Tubm an’s great
vision for our people. I am so grateful for the
tremendous gift Jacob Lawrence was given and his
own lifelong generosity in sharing his gifts with
others.
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