The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
"In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit..."
— Jefferson to Lewis & Clark, 1803
The title for the 18th panel in Jacob Lawrence's "Struggle: From the History of the American People" series title comes from a letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark, who were leading an expedition across the American West.
Despite Jefferson’s general disregard for Indigenous rights, he asked that Lewis and Clark approach Native peoples with cautious respect—to befriend them, attempt to develop trade relations, and collect artifacts. The painting features the expedition’s translator and guide, a Lemhi Shoshone woman named Sacagawea, in a moment of recognition that Clark recorded in a journal entry on August 13, 1805.
After the group encountered the Shoshone (in present-day Idaho), Sacagawea acknowledges her brother, Chief Cameahwait, from whom she had been separated since childhood. Lawrence depicted the siblings dressed in vibrant red and blue, imagining a tender reunion by conjoining their strong, columnar forms.
There are two weeks left to experience Lawrence’s multi-paneled series in “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle” in person or online. Plan your visit before the exhibition closes on November 1. met.org/JacobLawrence.
Jacob Lawrence, (American, 1917–2000). In all your intercourse with the natives, treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit...Jefferson to Lewis & Clark, 1803, Panel 18, 1956, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56. Egg tempera on hardboard. Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross. © The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo by Bob Packert/PEM. #MetJacobLawrence
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