North Carolina Museum of Art

Forward dramatizes an incident in the life of the abolitionist heroine Harriet Tubman. Jacob Lawrence relates the story with masterful economy, eliminating all but the essentials. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped, then repeatedly returned to the South to rescue other slaves. In this painting she shepherds a small group of fugitives northward to freedom. By the dark of a new moon, six barefoot figures steal warily across a bare landscape. Clutching a revolver, Tubman commands center stage, her indomitable spirit expressed in the forward momentum of her body and the determined thrust of her arm that impels her reluctant comrade onward. Others follow, their faces and gestures expressing both fear and resolution. In the context of the ongoing Civil Rights struggle, Lawrence reimagined the historical Harriet Tubman as a timeless exemplar of moral courage and determination.