Introduction

The history of the United States fascinates me. Right now, I’m reading it, looking at any episode that suggests a symbol of struggle. The part the Negro has played in all these events has been greatly overlooked. I intend to bring it out.

—Jacob Lawrence, 1956

Finding the Overlooked

Libraries and archives helped Lawrence create the epic Struggle series. He spent years at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, closely studying American history texts and illustrations. Much like the reference librarians there, he selected and clipped out articles and photographs from daily newspapers and magazines to collect material necessary for his more inclusive American history in Struggle.

Lawrence’s archival research extended from the library to the streets, where he drew upon his own lived experiences: memories of time spent in New Orleans, his service in the Navy during World War II as the nation’s first black combat artist on the first integrated troopships, and the names of military heroes commemorated on the street signs of his Brooklyn neighborhood.