#17: The Migration Series by Jacob Lawrence – The Phillips Collection, D.C., and MoMA, NYC
Perhaps unsettling and challenging are more accurate than “controversial” for this 60-panel series chronicling the migration of Black Americans from the rural South. When first exhibited in the 1940s, its frank portrayal of racism, poverty, and hope stirred discomfort among white audiences. Today, it’s widely revered, but its power to provoke remains intact.

