Jacob Lawrence Biography By Terryll Jackson

         

       Jacob Lawrence was a well-known painter/educator. He was born on September 17, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey and died in Seattle, Washington on June 9, 2000. After his parents divorced in 1924, he was then raised in foster care in Philadelphia. Jacob then met up with his mother in Harlem when he reached the age of 13. Lawrence was later introduced to art and took classes at the Harlem Art Workshop and often visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1937, he won a scholarship in New York to the American Artists School and then graduated in 1939. After completing his popular series, Migration of the Negros in 1941; it was exhibited at Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery one year later, making Jacob Lawrence the first African American to join the art gallery. That time he married a woman named Gwendolyn Knight who was a sculptor and painter.Since their marriage
   

During Lawrence's time in World War II he was drafted in the U.S Coastal Guard and made 48 paintings which were lost throughout time. When he returned to New York he continued to paint and started to get depressed. In 1949, he got checked into Hillside Hospital in Queens, New York. He then stayed there for almost a year (11 months). After leaving the hospital he decided to start teaching again. In 1971, Lawrence was accepted for the position of a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and then retired in 1986. Jacob Lawrence produced some paintings weeks before he died on June 9, 2000.

Source: http://www.biography.com/people/jacob-lawrence-9375562#synopsis