Created in the 1970s, Builders No. 3 draws on prints made during the Great Depression depicting organized labor. Those images, created in the 1930s, celebrated American values of grit and teamwork to showcase a powerful nation. Tapping into such ideas, Jacob Lawrence inserts African Americans into these iconic American roles.

Builders always fascinated Lawrence. As a child he loved to watch them at work, and as an adult he collected tools. To Lawrence, making art held a similar importance: “the hand itself is a beautiful tool,” he once proclaimed.