Attribution Questions

A week or so ago (7 May) I wrote a post entitled "Color, Anonymity, and Forced Migration" where I discussed, among other things, some work by Jacob Lawrence. Today, I stopped by Open Democracy and discovered this short essay, "'The Great Migration', Jacob Lawrence" (posted 14 May), that coincidently also discusses the very same works. Even more coincidently the (unidentified) author at OD discusses those same works in language that at times is identical to mine. Consider these comparisons:

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[JJ] "... Jacob Lawrence's "Migration Series" (1940-41) ** which 'documents' the movement of internally displaced African Americans from the rural South to the urban North in the early 20th C ..."

[OD] "... the "Migration Series" (1941) illustrating the mass migration of African Americans from the rural south to the urban north after the first world war."

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[JJ] " ... Lawrence also tends to paint African Americans in silhouette (hence he's a precursor to, for example, Kara Walker) even as he regularly paints Caucasians with discernable facial features. Lawrence's migrants, then tend to be anonymous, often members of largish groups as in these paintings."

[OD] "Lawrence's migrants tend to be anonymous, appearing in silhouette in comparison to Caucasians who are depicted with discernable facial features. They are often members of largish groups rather than individuals and the scenes convey the discrimination and lack of identity suffered by African American migrants."

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I've contacted one of the editor's at OD's NYC office to see if she has any insight into this seemingly remarkable confluence of topic and language. We'll see.