John Brown formed an organization among the colored people of the Adirondack woods to resist the capture of any fugitive slave

This painting depicts the famous abolitionist, John Brown, mobilizing a group of freedmen to resist the  containment of escaped slaves. Jacob Lawrence’s cubist-inspired style reveals itself here, with the layering of the figures on top of one another, offering little depth but a rhythmically composed space of figures. Lawrence was both an artist and an educator, and this painting serves to educate on the narrative of John Brown, an abolitionist who eventually settled in the Adirondack Mountains, where land grants were being given to to poor black men in the mid-19th century. Lawrence’s dark color palette, coupled with jagged brushstrokes, expresses the serious nature of this scene.
SKU: 5486
Creator: Jacob Lawrence
Date: 1941
Original Medium: Gouache on white wove paper
Original Size: 19 3/4 x 13 5/8 in.
Location: Detroit Institute of Arts
© 2016 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York