“I paint the things I know about and the things I have experienced. The things I have experienced extend into my national, racial and class group. So I paint the American scene.”[1]

Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1917. When he was seven, his parents separated, and Lawrence found himself in foster care. In 1930, Lawrence’s mother moved her children to Harlem, where Lawrence was surrounded by luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. He took arts and crafts classes after school with Charles Alston at the Utopia Children’s House, heard weekly sermons from Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, and attended the Harlem Art Workshop run by Augusta Savage. Alston and Savage encouraged Lawrence in his artistic studies, despite the fact that Lawrence had to drop out of high school in 1934, when his mother lost her job in the midst of the Great Depression. During this time, Lawrence rented studio space in Alston’s famed studio at 306 West 141^st Street (known simply as 306), a major gathering place for artists. After six months in the Civilian Conservation Corps, Lawrence received a scholarship in 1937 to attend the American Artists School, run by the John Reed Club in Harlem. In 1938, with help from Savage, Lawrence joined the easel division of the WPA, submitting paintings to them at regular intervals.

In 1938, he completed his first narrative suite, The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, consisting of forty-one paintings about the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) inspired by Haiti, a play by W.E.B. DuBois, which Lawrence had seen in 1936. He continued to work in series throughout his career, completing works on the lives of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and John Brown, as well as thematic series about American history, warfare, and games. While all of these works were met with acclaim, his most celebrated series was The Migration of the Negro (later renamed The Migration Series), completed in 1941 and purchased by the Phillips Collection (which owns the odd-numbered panels) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) (which has the even-numbered ones). The year he completed the Migration series, Lawrence also joined the roster of artists at Edith Halpert’s prestigious Downtown Gallery. Halpert, who represented Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, and John Marin, had contacted Lawrence at the suggestion of Alain Locke, and early champion of Lawrence’s work.

Lawrence gained widespread recognition in 1944, when MoMA granted him a solo exhibition. Titled Paintings by Jacob Lawrence: Migration of the Negro and Works Made in U.S. Coast Guard, the exhibition included works Lawrence had done while serving on the USS Sea Cloud, the US navy’s first racially integrated ship. The following year, his Life of John Brown series was the subject of a national traveling exhibition sponsored by the American Federation of arts. As with his earlier series, John Brown was well received, and Lawrence’s reputation grew throughout the 1940s. In 1947, Walker Evans commissioned him to do a series on African American life in the south for Fortune Magazine, and in 1948, Lawrence was commissioned to illustrate One-Way Ticket, a collection of poems by Langston Hughes.

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
Amistad Research Center, Aaron Douglas Collection, New Orleans, LA
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Benedict College, Columbia, SC
Bennett College, Greensboro, NC
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
The City College of New York, The City University of New York, New York, NY
Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA
The Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences of West Virginia, Charleston, WV
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
DePaul University Museum, Chicago, IL
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Diggs Gallery, Winston-Salem State University, Winston-Salem, NC
Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Evansville, IN
Fisk University, Nashville, TN
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Boston, MA
George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskegee, AL
Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA
Hampton University, Hampton, VA
Harlem Art Collection, New York State Office of General Services, Albany, NY and
New York, NY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Hofstra University Museum, Hempstead, NY
Howard University Art Collection, Washington, DC
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
I.P. Stanback Museum, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, CA
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI
Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil
National Academy of Design, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
New-York Historical Society, New York, NY
The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
NYC Health + Hospitals, New York, NY
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC
RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
Schomburg Center, New York Public Library, New York, NY
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA|
Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale, IL
Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
St. Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
The Tougaloo College Economic Development Corporation, The Tougaloo College Art
Collections, Tougaloo, MS
University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
University of Georgia, Athens, GA
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Vatican Gallery of Modern Art, Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Washington State Capitol Museum, Olympia, WA
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

1938  
Jacob Lawrence, YMCA: Harlem, New York, NY, sponsored by the James Weldon Johnson Literary Guild

1939  
De Porres Interracial Center, New York, NY

1940  
Columbia University, New York. NY

1941  
Downtown Gallery, New York, NY;1943;1945;1947;1950;1953

1942  
Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1944  
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1945 
Boston Institute of Modern Art, MA

1946  
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1947  
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ

1957  
Alan Gallery, New York, NY

1960 
Brooklyn Museum, NY (Retrospective)
Jacob Lawrence, American Federation of Arts, New York, NY

1963  
Terry Dintefass Gallery, New York, NY;1965;1968;1973;1978;1983

1965  
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

1968 
Fisk Umiversity, Nashville, TN

1969  
Studio Museum in Harlem, NY

1970  
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1973  
State Capitol Museum, Olympia, WA

1974  
Jacob Lawrence, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; The St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, MO; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

1976  
Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA;1978;1979;1980;1982;1985

1978  
Spelman College, Atlanta, GA
Detroit Institute of Arts

1979  
Wentz Gallery, Portland, OR
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA

1981  
Brockman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Portsmouth Community Art Center, VA
New Visions Gallery, San Diego, CA
Reynolda House. Winston-Salem, NC

1982  
Clark Humanities Museum, Scripps College, Claremont, CA (Retrospective)
Santa Monica College, CA
Crystal Britton Gallery, Atlanta, GA

1983  
Stockton State College Art Gallery, Pomona NJ
Benedum Gallery, Morgantown, WV
Stewart Center Gallery, Purdue University, IN

1984 
Thompson Gallery, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Jamaica Arts Center, Jamaica, NY (Retrospective)
Portland Art Museum, OR

1986  
Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Jacob Lawrence, American Painter, Oakland Museum, New York, NY; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

1992
Jacob Lawrence: The Early Decades, Katonah Art Museum, Katonah, NY

1995
Jacob Lawrence, An Overview: Paintings from 1936-1994, Midtown Payson Galleries, New York, NY

2002
Over The Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2015      
One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Visions of the Great Movement North, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2016      
People on the Move: Beauty and Struggle in Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

2017
Maryland Collects: Jacob Lawrence, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, Baltimore, MD

2018
Between Form and Content: Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence and Black Mountain College, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, NC
Collections Selections: Jacob Lawrence, Washington State History Museum, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA
Jacob Lawrence’s “Toussaint L’Ouverture” Series: The Haitian Revolution, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX

2019
History, Labor, Life: The Prints of Jacob Lawrence, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY

2020
Jacob Lawrence: American Struggle, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

1937
An Exhibition of the Harlem Artist Guild, presented by Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, New York Public Library, 201 West 115th Street, New York, NY

1940
Exhibition of the Art of the American Negro (1851-1940), Tanner Art Galleries, Chicago, IL; traveled to Library of Congress, Washington, DC
21 New York Negro Painters, Harlem Community Art Center, New York, NY

1943
The Twenty-Second International Exhibition of Watercolors, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

1944
American Painting of Today, City Art Museum, St. Louis, MO

1946
Paintings by Matisse, Tom Lewis, and Chester Hayes; Watercolor and Paintings by Jacob Lawrence and Willing Howard, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, CA

1952
Brooklyn Artist Biennial Exhibition, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

1953
1953 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors and Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1954
From Museum Walls…, The Alan Gallery, New York, NY
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

1956
First Exposition of Negro Progress, Wanamaker Building, New York, NY
Scope in Collecting, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

1957
Struggle….From the History of the American People, The Alan Gallery, New York, NY
1957 Annual Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings, Watercolors, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1958
1958 Annual Exhibition; Sculpture, Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1959
American Sculpture and Painting: American National Exhibition in Moscow, The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Art: USA: 59, A Force, A Language, A Frontier, Coliseum, New York, NY

1963
17th Annual Art Exhibition and Sale of Contemporary Art, Downtown Community School, New York, NY

1964
Between the Fairs: Twenty-Five Years of American Art 1939-1964, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, American Society of African Culture, Lagos, Nigeria
…Some Negro Artists, Art Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ
Artists for CORE: Third Annual Art Exhibition and Sale, Gallery of American Federation of Arts, American Federation of Arts, New York, NY

1965
Herbert A. Goldstone Collection of American Art, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
Sixth Annual Arts Festival, Temple Emanu-El, Yonkers, NY

1966
Contemporary Urban Visions, Wollman Hall, New School Art Center, New School for Social Research, New York, NY

1968
30 Contemporary Black Artists, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, NY; Roberson Center for the Arts and Sciences (now Roberson    Museum and Science Center), Binghamton, NY; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY; San Francisco Museum of Art (now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), San Francisco, CA; Contemporary Arts Museum – Houston, Houston, TX; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Museum of Art (now RISD             Museum), Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Art Galleries (now Art, Design, & Architecture Museum), UC Santa Barbara, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Invisible Americans: Black Artists of the 30’s, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Black Artists in America: 19th and 20th Centuries, Wilcox Gallery, Swarthmore, College, Swarthmore, PA

1970
Five Famous Black Artists: Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Charles White, Hale Woodruff, The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Roxbury, MA
Afro-American Artists: New York and Boston, The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston, MA; School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Contemporary Black Artists, Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, Milwaukee, WI
Selections from “Contemporary Black Artists”, The Gallery Toward the Black Aesthetic, Milwaukee, WI   

1971
Black Artists: Two Generations, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ

1974 
Six Afro-American Artists: A View from the Morgan State College Gallery of Art Collection, Gallery of Art (now James E. Lewis Museum of Art), Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), Baltimore, MD

1976
14 Afro-American Artists, Pratt Institute Galleries (now the Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery), Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

1978
New York/Chicago: WPA and the Black Artist, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

1981
American Art: 1920-1940, New Society of Art, Berlin, Germany

1982
Works on Paper by Contemporary Black American Artists from the James T. Parker Collection, Vivian G. Harsh Collection of Afro-American Literature and History Room, Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL

1983
Celebrating Contemporary American Black Artists, Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY

1984
Since the Harlem Renaissance: 50 Years of Afro-American Art, The Center Gallery (now Samek Art Museum), Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA; The Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, College at Westbury (now SUNY Old Westbury), State University of New York, Old Westbury, NY; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY; University of Maryland Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Museum of Art (now Palmer Museum of Art), Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

1985
Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington; Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C.; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; the Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
American Art and the Great Depression: Two Sides of the Coin, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS

1990         
Augusta Savage and the Art Schools of Harlem, Museum of the National Center for Afro American Artists, Roxbury, MA

1991
The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, The Beach Institute African-American Cultural Center / King-Tisdell Cottage, Savannah, GA; Hammonds House Galleries and Resource Center (now Hammonds House Museum), Atlanta, GA; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL; Boston University Art Galleries, Boston University, Boston, MA; Main Gallery, Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures, University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio, TX; Canton Art Institute (now Canton Museum of Art), Canton, OH; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE; University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Art Gallery, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, PA; Cheekwood Museum of Art, Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville, TN; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV; Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Ocean Springs, MS; Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA; Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC; The Museum of Art/Tallahassee, Tallahassee, FL; Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA; Henry Ford Museum (now The Henry Ford), Dearborn, MI; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA; Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TX; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS

1992
In Good Conscience: The Radical Tradition in Twentieth-Century American Illustration, The Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery AL

1993
Forty Years of African American Printmaking, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI 

1994
Empowerment: The Art of African American Artists, Krasdale Gallery, White Plains, NY
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN

1995
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, II, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
A Collector’s Eye: Depression-Era Paintings from the Collection of John Horton, James A. Michener Art Museum, Bucks County, PA

1996
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, III, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

1997
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IV, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, TN
Civil Progress: Images of Black America, Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY
Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance, Hayward Gallery, London; Arnolfini, Bristol; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, England; M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
This is Why We Sing: An Exhibition of African-American Art, Atrium Gallery, Morristown, NJ
Revisiting American Art: Works from the Collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY

1998 
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, V, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; The Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Art in Embassies Program, Official Residence of Ambassador George Moose, US Permanent Representative to the European Office of the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

1999
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VI, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
When the Spirit Moves: African-American Art Inspired by Dance, Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH; Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI; Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA; Arts and Industries Building, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

2000 
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VII, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL
A Brush with the Past, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Birmingham, MI

2001
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VIII, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Texas Southern University Museum, Houston, TX

2002 
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IX, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Raised to the Trade: Creole Building Arts of New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

2003
African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, X, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
American Identity: Figurative Painting and Sculpture, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists 1925-1945, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2004
Embracing the Muse:  Africa and African American Art, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
50 Years of African American Printmaking, G.R. N’Namdi, Detroit, MI

2005
Syncopated Rhythms: 20th-Century African American Art from the George and Joyce Wein Collection, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA
Toward Abstraction, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

2006
Building Community:  The African American Scene, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
2006-08 Coming of Age:  American Art, 1850s to 1950s, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, England; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Syncopated Rhythms: 20th-Century African American Art from the George & Joyce Wein Collection, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA

2008
African American Art: 200 Years, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

2009
Il Secolo del Jazz:  Arte, Cinema, Musica e Fotografia da Picasso a Basquiat (The Jazz Century:  Art, Cinema, Music and Photography from Picasso to Basquiat), Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rovereto, Italy; Museé du quai Branly, Paris, France; Centro de Cultura Contemporànea, Barcelona, Spain
Harlem Renaissance, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund, The Spertus Museum, Chicago, IL; Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME

2010
Different Strokes: Twentieth Century Drawings, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY

2011
Embodied: Black Identities in American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery, David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD

2012 
African American Art in the 20th Century, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Successions: Prints by African American Artists from the Jean & Robert Steele Collection, David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD
…On Paper, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

2013
INsite/INchelsea: The Inaugural Exhibition, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Ashé to Amen: African-Americans and Biblical Imagery, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY; Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture; Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, TN

2014
Face Value: Portraiture in the Age of Abstraction, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
RISING UP/UPRISING: Twentieth Century African American Art, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
The Harmon & Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works on Paper, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr., Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC

2015
Represent: 200 Years of African American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
I Like It Like This: S|2 x Drake, Sotheby's Contemporary Art Gallery, New York, NY
Collectors Legacy: Selections from the Sandra Lloyd Baccus Collection, The David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD

2016
The Color Line: African American Artists and the Civil Rights in the United States, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France

2017
Sputterances, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
Content into Form: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Jacob Lawrence and Black Mountain College, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, NC
Why Draw? 500 Years of Drawings and Watercolors at Bowdoin College, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Art of Rebellion: Black Art of the Civil Rights Movement, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
The Last Ten Years: In Focus; Selections from the David C. Driskell Center Collections, David C. Driskell Center Gallery,University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Familiar Faces & New Voices: Surveying Northwest Art, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA

2018
Outliers and American Vanguard Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Something to Say: The McNay Presents 100 Years of African American Art, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Histórias Afro-Atlânticas, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) and Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil
I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Truth & Beauty: Charles White and His Circle, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Augusta Savage: Renaissance Woman, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL; New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, New York, NY; Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis, TN
The Notion of Family, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Smithsonian’s Sara Roby Foundation Collection, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Eye to I: Self-Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA

2019    
Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Smith College Museum of Art, Smith College, Northampton, MA; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
The Square Collection, West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LA
Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
African American Art: We Too Dream America, Museum of Art – DeLand, DeLand, FL
Notes and Tones: Jazz Influences on the EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, Department of Cultural Affairs, Hudson County Community College, Jersey City, NJ
Alvaro Barrington: Artists I Steal From, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, England
The Whitney's Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Harlem: In Situ, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Centennial Impressions: A Celebration of Prints, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
Self in the City: Highlights from the Collections of the Hudson River Museum and Art Bridges, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
The Blues and the Abstract Truth: Voices of African-American Art, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD
The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
A LABOR OF LOVE: The Art Collection of Dr. Constance E. Clayton, Art & Artifacts Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, New York, NY
Frederick Douglass: Embers of Freedom, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
Resilience: African American Artists As Agents of Change, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI
“In and Around Harlem,” Collection 1940s-1970s, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Afrocosmologies: American Reflections, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Harlem Roots, 2nd Floor Art Gallery and Community Room, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building, New York, NY
Into the Night: Cabarets and Clubs in Modern Art, Barbican Art Gallery, London, England; Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
Detroit Collects: Selections of African American Art from Private Collections, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
African American Art in the 20th Century, organized by Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA; Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL; The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

2020      
Spectrum: A Celebration of Artistic Diversity, Richard and Barbara Basch Visual Arts Center, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL
Wonderfully Made: The Artis Collection of African American Art, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Tell Me Your Story: 100 Years of Storytelling in African American Art, curated by Rob Perrée, Kunsthal KAde, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition, curated by Adrienne L. Childs, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
“Awakened in You”: The Collection of Dr. Constance E. Clayton, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art: Works On Paper, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX
Paper Power, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
Building a Legacy: The Vibrant Vision Collection of Jonathan Green and Richard Weedman, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
Explorations in Self: Black Portraiture from the Cochran Collection, Phillip and Charlotte Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Saints and Sin: Selections from the Permanent Collection by Black Artists, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Memories and Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art, Gilcrease Museum - Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History & Art, Tulsa, OK;  Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museums, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA; Appleton Museum of Art, College of Central Florida, Ocala, FL; Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT; David Owsley Museum of Art, Ball State University, Muncie, IN; Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV; Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA; Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN; Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH; Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, CA; Oklahoma State University Museum of Art, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK; Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA; Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA

2021
Vision & Spirit: African American Art | Works from the Bank of America Collection, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Levine Center for the Arts, Charlotte, NC
Seeing Differently: The Phillips Collects for a New Century, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Enduring Voices: African American Art from the David R. and Susan S. Goode Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, Greenwood Cultural Center and ONEOK Boathouse, Gathering Place, Tulsa, OK; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
Exhibiting Culture: Highlights from the Hammonds House Museum Collection, Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, GA
Colliding with History: African American Works on Paper from the Collection of Wes and Missy Cochran, The Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

2022      
Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA