Jacob Lawrence's "Ironing" and the Black Experience

Jacob Lawrence’s 1943 painting “Ironing,” taken most simply, depicts three black women in watching white dresses and bonnets, ironing colorfully patterned clothing on a shared ironing board. This paining, arising out of the artistic tradition of the Harlem Renaissance, provides insights into how African Americans, specifically those associated with the Harlem Renaissance, perceived themselves and their relationship to the rest of America and the struggle for freedom. It is notable, first, that the three figures are quite literally black, with no discernable facial features, as are their irons, which look as though they could be attached, undifferentiated, to their bodies. It could be argued that Lawrence draws attention to this at least in part to comment on the nature of “black women’s work,” as their identity is reduced to their labor, to the services they perform—to cook or maid or nanny. Furthermore, Lawrence draws on the longstanding artistic trope of portraits of women ironing or doing laundry, but placing black women in that role—both asserting black people’s ability to be subjects of their own artistic tradition, and calling attention to the fact that, as indicated by their matching uniforms, the labor they’re performing is for someone else’s benefit. However, the genius of the painting lies in the tension presented in its depiction of the ironing women, contrasting this sense of oppression with a palpable vitality and even joy. The body language of the women indicates strength and vigor and enthusiasm, and the vibrancy of the clothing being ironed (matching that of the painting’s background) calls into question whether or not these are even white employers’ clothes in the first place. It evokes a sense of joy and pride and struggle undertaken with determination, all of which are sentiments familiar to the cross-generational body of black activism.