Jacob Lawrence remembered in high school that black culture was "never studied seriously like regular subjects," so he taught himself about it by going to libraries and museums. This painting shows off the 135th street library (now the Schomburg Center for Research in black culture), where the country's first collection of African American literature and history was first displayed in 1925. (http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=14376)
Everyone in the painting looks mesmerized by their books with their hunched backs and focused facial expressions. The man in the black suit on the left stands out to me. He seems like he's not with the others. Almost as if he was the artist reading more about his culture.
There are lot of HR themes that I see in this painting. First is culture and history because of Lawrence trying to read and find out more about his ancestors. Second is the desire to reconstruct the "negro" because they are educating themselves, setting them apart from the other non educated blacks. Lastly I see fighting against oppression because most African Americans didn't get the chance to get an education back then. In this painting I see everyone dedicated to learning about black culture and history.
I like this painting. The colors go well together and the blank expressions give it a mysteriousness that add another element. I picked it because the colors jumped out to me but also it was of the only paintings I have seen about the Harlem Renaissance that had education involved.
