The Migration Series, Panel no. 5: Migrants were advanced passage on the railroads, paid for by northern industry. Northern industry was to be repaid by the migrants out of their future wages.

The train, a symbol of both industry and adventure, is depicted here at night, releasing a beacon of light into the darkness as well as billowing black smoke. While the train does suggest an exciting new opportunity, as the title explains, there were many sacrifices and trade-offs to be made in exchange for the migrants’ new lives. The railroad symbolisation is also a nod to the Underground Railroad, another famous passageway that brought black Americans northward.
SKU: 64131
Creator: Jacob Lawrence
Date: between 1940 and 1941
Original Medium: Casein tempera on hardboard
Original Size: 12 x 18 in.
Location: The Phillips Collection
© 2016 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Paper SizePortrait / LandscapeUnframedFramed
Petite8x10 / 10x8$19$109
Small11x14 / 14x11$29$189
Medium16x20 / 20x16$59$279
Large22x28 / 28x22$99$389
Extra Large32x40 / 40x32$159$449