Jacob Lawrence occupies an unusual position in the history of American art. He is an ionic figure, one of the great modern painters of the twentieth century, a distinction he earned early in his career when he gained widespread recognition for the narrative painting series The Migration of the Negro in 1941. In a century that equated the evolution of modern art with the will toward abstraction, Lawrence's early success and his sustained visibility are remarkable. He has walked a careful line between abstract and figurative art, using aesthetic values for social ends. His success at balancing such seemingly irreconcilable aspects of art is a fundamental characteristic of his long and distinguished career. ( Dubois,11)
             This Toussaint L'Ouverture series, number seventeen. A description of this composition is Toussaint captured Marmelade, held by Vernet, 1795, 1937-1938. The medium used in this composition was tempera on paper, 19 x 11". The original piece resides in the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans. "It was late in that year," chronicled the New York Amsterdam News about Lawrence in 1937, "that he began the Haitian series, doing his research with the aid of the Schomburg Collection... Although he has never been on the island,, the authenticity of his work was gained from historical texts and novels."( Powell,1)
             Jacob Armstead Lawrence was born in 1917 in Atlantic City, New
             Jersey. His parents were Jacob and Rosa Lee Lawrence. In 1919, his family moves to Easton, Pennsylvania, where daughter, Geraldine is born. In 1924 his parents separate. Rosa Lee Lawrence moves the children to Philadelphia where another son, William, is born. ( Dubois,25)
             In 1933 Jacob Lawrence won the prize for drawing map illustrations
             describing the travel of apostle Peter. In 1935, he exhibited his work in group exhibitions at the Alston-Bannarn Studios. Addison Bates allowed Lawrence to exhibit his work in his s...