In conjunction with an exhibition of Jacob Lawrence’s narrative painting cycle Struggle: from the History of the American People, this event is co-sponsored by the McIntire Department of Art, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, and the Jefferson School Foundation.

Reception
Thursday, April 14 | 6:00pm | The Fralin Museum of Art
Symposium
Friday, April 15 | 9:00-12:00, 2:00-4:30 | Harrison Institute /Small Special Collections Auditorium

FREE and Open to the public!
Please RSVP to Laura Mellusi if you are interested in attending. Email >

In actively soliciting the insights of scholars both at the podium and in the audience, the interchange will bring fresh questions and approaches to this very understudied series in the corpus of Jacob Lawrence. The lectures are particularly interested in exploring the broad concerns for freedom writ large, from the American Revolution and beyond in the Struggle series, as well as the context of its creation at mid-20^th Century.  To date, very little has been published concerning how and why in 1954, at the height of the McCarthy era and just as the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs the Board of Education launched a new era in the Civil Rights Movement, Lawrence would begin an epic cycle on American history.  Colleagues and students are invited to bring their thoughts, questions, opinions and scholarship to foster the richest possible discussion.

Guest Speakers:

David Driskell (University of Maryland) at 9am
Sandy Alexandre (MIT) at 10am
Leslie King-Hammond (MICA) at 10am
James Ott (James Madison University)  at 3pm
Patricia Hills (Boston University) at 3pm

UVA Speakers:

Shilpa S. Davé (Media Studies) at 2pm
Theresa S. Davis (Drama) at 2pm
Carmenita Higginbotham (Art History and American Studies) at 2pm
M. Jordan Love (The Fralin Museum) at 2pm
Lynn M. Sanders (Politics) at 2pm

Jacob Lawrence.
We have no property! We have no wives! No children! We have no city! No country! – Petition of many slaves, 1773, 1955
CE. Egg tempera; hardwood, 30.5 x 40.6 cm.
Location: Collection of Mr. Harvey Ross.
© 2015 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This symposium is supported by the Page-Barbour Fund, the McIntire Department of Art, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies at UVA, and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. The exhibitions are supported by Mr. Harvey Ross, The Jacob Lawrence Foundation, The Fralin Museum of Art, the Office of the Provost & Vice Provost for the Arts, the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH), the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture, and the Arts Council.