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Lesson 4

We will explore artist Jacob Lawrence’s The Migration Series and begin to examine the connections and relationships among his paintings and The Warmth of Other Suns while considering what they collectively convey about the experiences of the Great Migration.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about Lawrence’s and Wilkerson’s perspectives, purposes, and meanings in their work?

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage Books, 2010
  • Digital Access
    • The Migration Series, Jacob Lawrence, The Phillips Collection, 2019

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

Using a Website and the Visual Analysis Tool, we will begin our examination of how one artist, Jacob Lawrence, responded to and prompted us to think about the Great Migration through his 60 paintings, collectively called The Migration Series.

Step 1

Listen and read along silently as your teacher reads and displays the introduction from the website. Write down your response to the following question on the Visual Analysis Tool:

  1. What do you already understand about the paintings based on this information?

Step 2

Individually review the panels and captions as your teacher displays each in order for the first time. Think about the following questions during your viewing:

  1. What do you notice about the colors, shapes, and compositions of the paintings?

  2. What stood out to you as you viewed the painting series?

  3. What was confusing?

  4. Which panels were you particularly drawn to or interested by?

Step 3

Review the Section 3 Diagnostic. Keep the Section 3 Diagnostic in mind, as you view the panels.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will explore the paintings more closely, first as individual panels and then as a series.

Working in your group, view the painting series again at a slower speed so that you can take notes and collaboratively respond to the following questions:

  1. How is color used? Shape? Composition?

  2. How is point of view used?

  3. What do you understand about the paintings from their captions?

  4. How do Lawrence’s decisions as an artist enhance your understanding of specific aspects of the Great Migration?

  5. Which panels seem to have meaning on more than one level? Why?

  6. Which panels seem to connect directly with something in The Warmth of Other Suns?

Activity 3: Discuss

We will debrief our group work about Lawrence’s The Migration Series.

Participate in a whole-class debrief to share your group’s responses to the guiding questions, building on other groups’ ideas, and extending the conversation with questions.

Activity 4: Read

For homework, continue to review and explore the Website while you complete the sources Note-Taking Tool for Lawrence’s The Migration Series.

For homework, continue to review and explore the website while you complete the Sources Note-Taking Tool for Lawrence’s The Migration Series to deepen understanding by tracking and evaluating the effects of details. Use your completed tools from this lesson to help you respond to the guiding questions below:

Establishing Understanding:

  1. What knowledge do I gain from this text? (Include page numbers for each note.)

  2. What questions do I still have after reading this text?

Deepening Understanding:

  1. How does the organization of the ideas and information enhance my understanding?

  2. What stylistic elements stand out in this text? How does the style of the text enhance my understanding?

  3. What do the organization and style convey about the writer’s point of view and purpose?

Choose three to five panels of the series that seem significant to you in terms of what they convey about the Great Migration or the impact of a single decision, or in terms of their connections to The Warmth of Other Suns.