On this day, June 9, 2000, painter and illustrator Jacob Lawrence died in Seattle, Washington. He attended art classes at the Harlem Art Workshop, at the Harlem Community Art Center, and at the American Artists School. As a young artist, Lawrence began to make serial paintings to visually tell stories about the African American experience. With Lawrence’s first solo exhibition at MOMA in the 1940s, his celebrated work received national and international attention.