Harlem was more than a home to artist Jacob Lawrence. This New York City neighborhood was where he began to dream and learned to paint. He listened to great writers and musicians who lived there. He painted what he saw, telling stories in bold colors.
Lawrence, born in 1917, didn't have a chance to go to an art academy. Blacks weren't allowed at such schools then. He learned art at a class after school, in the library and at museums. Lawrence painted Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and other leaders. He honored history. Lawrence, who died in 2000, was among the first African-American artists to paint stories of his heritage, but he surely won't be the last.