A century ago, if Blacks in Birmingham wanted to access a library, they had one option: the Booker T. Washington Library. The branch – one of the state’s first for Black patrons – originally occupied three rooms in the Masonic Temple building downtown. In 1956, it grew into the original Smithfield Library Branch building. It was a space where Black people sought knowledge that was readily available to their white counterparts.

At that time, nearly 1,000 miles away, one of the nation’s preeminent Black artists was completing a series of paintings informed by years of research at a similar institution. Jacob Lawrence studied American history at the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, gathering years of research before putting brush to panel. The branch is now the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a space that preserves the stories of Black Americans.

Such connections are rampant throughout “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle,” which is on display at the Birmingham Museum of Art (BMA) through Feb. 7. Lawrence worked on the 30-painting collection between 1954 and 1956, bringing life to American history events from 1775 to 1817 while he lived through another revolutionary period.

“Because Lawrence is a consummate scholar, he spends his entire life and career researching,” said Katelyn D. Crawford, the William Cary Hulsey curator of American Art. “He’s also really socially active, and he’s paying attention to the early civil rights era … clipping from newspapers, articles related to the early civil rights era, even as he’s reading historical newspapers. In so many of these panels, you see not only history from the American Revolution or early American history – the War of 1812, westward migration – you also see the ways in which those events, through Lawrence’s really particular and brilliant lens, are resonant in 1954.”

Jacob Lawrence, The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country. —Thomas Paine, 1776, Panel 7, 1954, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, … again the rebels rushed furiously on our men. —a Hessian soldier, Panel 8, 1954, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, We crossed the River at McKonkey’s Ferry 9 miles above Trenton … the night was excessively severe … which the men bore without the least murmur …—Tench Tilghman, 27 December 1776, Panel 10, 1954, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2003.414. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, And a Woman Mans a Cannon, Panel 12, 1955, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

The exhibit’s text panels (printed in English and Spanish) invite viewers to see the work through that context. A QR code on a panel about Lawrence’s use of libraries links guests to relevant book recommendations from Smithfield librarian Reba Williams, and the museum’s smartguide offers additional context for the exhibit.

The exhibit arrived in Birmingham at the end of a year filled with conversations about diversity and equality. Months before the exhibit opened, protesters gathered around a Confederate monument in Linn Park across from the museum. The city removed the monument days later.

As is common with traveling exhibits, BMA began talks to obtain “Struggle” two years ago. Though civil rights history echoes through Birmingham’s streets, the museum could not have predicted the context in which the exhibit would open.

“Birmingham is a place where history is around every corner – and the history never really seems like history,” said Graham Boettcher, the Hugh Daniel director of the Birmingham Museum of Art. “(The timing) is a sort of unintended synchronicity, but one that I think will be very evident to our visitors and resonate in different ways based on people’s lived experience.”

Jacob Lawrence, In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit … —Jefferson to Lewis & Clark, 1803, Panel 18, 1956, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence Thousands of American citizens have been torn from their country and from everything dear to them: they have been dragged on board ships of war of a foreign nation. —Madison, 1 June 1812, Panel 19, 1956, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, Listen, Father! The Americans have not yet defeated us by land; neither are we sure they have done so by water—we therefore wish to remain here and fight our enemy … —Tecumseh to the British, Tippecanoe, 1811, Panel 21, 1956, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility … —17 September 1787, Panel 15, 1955, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Francis H. Burr Memorial Fund, Richard Norton Fund, Henry George Berg Bequest Fund, Anonymous Fund in memory of Henry Berg, and Alpheus Hyatt Fund, 1995.23. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jacob Lawrence, … for freedom we want and will have, for we have served this cruel land long enuff … —a Georgia slave, 1810, Panel 27, 1956, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954– 56, private collection. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Crawford hopes people will consider their own experiences as they examine Lawrence’s work. The paintings are on the small side; if frameless, a viewer could easily hold a panel in his or her hands, she notes. The intimacy draws viewers in, and several paintings invite visitors to picture themselves in the scene. A weapon could easily belong to the viewer, Crawford suggests, or a shadow appears to be cast by a viewer rather than any figure in the painting.

“You’re part of that struggle in that moment,” Crawford said.

And the museum invites visitors to further engage with “Struggle” through programs related to the exhibit.

Though BMA reopened to visitors in October, much of its programming remains virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The curator talk that opened “Struggle” took place on Zoom, and Manager of Public Programs Carey Fountain planned a variety of ways to draw Birmingham into the exhibit, even from their own homes.

Much of the programming attempts to answer the question “What would Jacob Lawrence paint today?” The museum urges community members to make their own panels, and the results are projected onto a screen at the center of the exhibit. Visit artsbma.org for a complete calendar and artsbma.org/guide/stop/117 for an introduction to the exhibit and video tours.