The Great Migration: An American Story is another of those picture books that I’m not at all sure really is a picture book, or at least, maybe not one for children.
I stumbled across it in the children’s section of my public library, while I was looking for craft books (on pipe cleaner crafts, if you’re interested). From the corner of my eye I spotted just one corner of the cover image, which was enough to recognize it as a painting by Jacob Lawrence.
I love Jacob Lawrence. A framed print of one of his paintings hangs in my home, and I’ve gone to more than one museum (one in Seattle, one in Portland) specifically because they were hosting a special exhibit by Lawrence, and spent time viewing his work in other museums (MOMA). I love Lawrence’s style, and the way he has more than once set out to document a complex subject in American history, most often African American history. He did more than 30 paintings about Frederick Douglass and more than 30 on Harriet Tubman.
He also did 60 paintings on the Great Migration, when African Americans moved out of the south to the north. Those paintings fill this book. They are brilliant and colorful and austere and painful. Everyone should see them, especially every American. (You can view them online here.)
They are, however, heavy, and may overwhelm young readers.
Most of the text explains explains the migration: what happened and why. That’s all prose. There’s also a poem at the end titled “Migration.” It’s written by Walter Dean Myers, an African American writer who is himself known for his works for younger readers.
Everyone should see these paintings. If you view them with kids, expect heavy questions.
