African American artist Jacob Lawrence painted his “Migration Series” in 1940. It includes sixty panels that tell the story of the migration North. Have students read Lawrence’s introduction to his paintings and then browse the selected paintings. Discuss:

• What aspects of the migration experience does the art capture?
• Which panels feel positive? Which panels are disturbing? Why?
• What challenges and rewards were part of the migration experience?

Each student should pick just one panel of the series to focus on for this performance task. Once the students have selected their panels, they should read the caption and research the subject of the panel. Use the following criteria questions to guide the research for students:

• Answer the overarching question of -What about the Great Migration does your panel depict?
• Research one aspect of the Great Migration with a special focus on primary sources.
• Find 2-3 personal stories from primary sources that demonstrate your panel.
• Find 2-3 statistics from a secondary source that relate to your panel.

Have each student create a one-page analysis of the panel. The essay should answer the research questions and aim to help viewers understand the meaning of the artwork. The guiding question that the analysis should answer is: to what extent did the Great Migration improve the lives of Black migrants from 1900 to 1960?

Create a museum exhibit by hanging up the panels that students chose with their accompanying essays underneath the paintings, like museum captions. Invite students to view the museum exhibit to learn about the Great Migration from the students’ examination of Lawrence’s body of work.