Jacob Lawrence was born on Sept. 7, 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After a tough childhood and the separation of his parents, he moved with his mother to Pennsylvania while she worked in Harlem, New York City. By 13 he ended up in NYC, according to whitney.org, the Web site for the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Lawrence picked up art at a daycare center as a child, and as he grew, his artwork matured.

He painted scenes of Harlem life — rooms, people, sidewalks and storefronts with bold color and elemental shapes. He rubbed elbows with the likes of Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Claude McKay and Aaron Douglas, according to the site.

Much of his art addressed the great migration of blacks to the North, and a main destination of those blacks was Harlem, the site stated. This neighborhood covered less than two square miles, and was home to more than a quarter-million black immigrants. Within this space was crammed, along with the people, a complex history of African ancestral traditions, philosophies, culture and religion.

He personally witnessed the Great Migration, The Great Depression, the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance, according to the site, and much of Lawrence’s work reflects that energy and evolution.

Next Tuesday the stage in Stewart Theatre will be a living work of his art.