The Migration Series, Panel no. 53: African American, long-time residents of northern cities met the migrants with aloofness and disdain.

In this panel, Lawrence comments on the classism and tension that existed between the migrating blacks and those who had already been living in the North. A very glamorously dressed woman on the arm of a man in a coat and tie outfit complete with a cane and tophat are depicted, facelessly staring down the viewer. The wealth of this couple would have been something to which those migrating would have aspired and would have contributed to the list of reasons for their migration. Unfortunately, as Lawrence points out with the title of this panel, the reality involved a fair amount of animosity and snobbery from blacks already settled in the North.
SKU: 64042
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