The illustrations for this book are actual paintings titled The Migration of the Negro, total 60 paintings. One half of them are in The New York Museum of Modern Art, the other half are in The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.

The beautifully stunning images of the Great Migration who occurred the mass migration of blacks seeking to find better jobs, and better opportunities that the south could provide. These free Americans deserved much more than a culture of white domination, wherein they still had to walk on the opposite side of the street, still had signs of drinking fountains were also noted Whites...Blacks..

Lawrence's paintings also show the hardship endured in moving from the north to the south. These are strong images are indeed powerful. ( )

I selected this book to read, even though it appeared to be a children's book, from a Little Free LIbrary because I had just learned about the Great Migration in a recent African American History course. Yes, i was aware of freed black slaves escaping to the north in what I learned as a child in American History courses, but I'm not sure that I ever knew the full extent of this migration. I became interested in learning more about Black history following the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States.

I didn't just read this book. I read it aloud to my hisband while we both looked at the pictures, which are beautiful. What especially appealed to me about the pictures were their simplicity, their color palatte, and the story they told. The pictures were all paintings in a series done by the author, himself an artist. These paintings are now in a divided collection between the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. I do not recall seeing any of these paintings before even though I did visit the Phillips art museum in the past. I have now become more acutely aware of how much I still need to know about my fellow African Americans.

There is a poem at the end of this book by author Walter Dean Myers, a well known children's author. The poem was called "Migration". Yes, it did make me cry. I, being a child of Holocaust survivors from Europe, and my husband, being an immigrant from El Salvador, are only too aware of how much parents do to ensure better lives for their children.

This is a beautiful book in so many ways. It's informative and quick to read. Don't miss it. ( )

This is a story about African Americans during the Great Migration north between 1915 and 1930. Told from more than one perspective, we get to see the fear, loneliness, and excitement that people felt as they journeyed north, leaving their homes. The illustrations are amazing, with some pages using parts of old photographs.

Excellent historical informational picture storybook documenting the post-WWI African American northern migration. Could serve as a supplemental reading for following topics: African American experience, American/Southern American History, WWI. The book features absolutely beautiful paintings by Jacob Lawrence. ( )

The Great Migration, with paintings by Jacob Lawrence and poetry by Walter Dean Myers, is an informational picture book which details the migration from the South to the North by African American people during segregation, likely from the 1920's to the 1950's. The book is appropriate for middle school children, but would definitely be valuable to high school kids as the paintings and the poetry and important culturally and are artistically successful, especially when placed next to each other. The heavy subject matter dealing with arrests, poverty, and slum-like conditions in the northern cities detailed in the book make it a bit too harsh for younger children, but the book remains important and would be a great addition to the curriculum of any middle school social studies class. ( )