The Schomburg Research Ceter
By
John C Abercrombie
In a previous post we featured the life of Arturo Alphonso Schomburg and the work that he dedicated his life to. In this post we look at the result of his pursuit.
That work resulted in The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture a research library that is part of the New York Public library system. As a research library it contains massive amounts of information and serves as an archive repository for people of African descent worldwide.
Note: While we are concerned about African Americans, there are people of African descent around the world. This includes North and South America as other locations around the world. Many of these people came from the same sources as African Americans and for the same purpose. The Schomburg covers the entire diaspora. Africans were transported all around the world. The people in Central and South America came from the same places that the people in America and Canada came from. It was a matter of which ship went where. As such we may have close relatives in other countries that we seldom think about.
Some of the most amazing contributions to civilization in a multitude of categories can be found in this impressive collection. Isn’t it amazing that none of these contributions are mentioned in history?
The Schomburg is a world class institution.
This outstanding repository of information has major divisions as outlined below:
- The Art and Artifacts Division
- The Jean Blackwell Hutson General Research and Reference Division
- The Manuscripts
- Archives and Rare Books Division
- The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
- The Photographs and Prints Division
The Schomburg is a very user friendly and open resource open to the general public hosting
- Readings
- Discussions
- Art Exhibitions
- Theatrical Events
All with an eye towards being accessible to the general public.
A new facility was opened in 1980 at 515 Lenox Avenue. The original building on West 135th Street was designated a New York City Landmark. In 2016 the original and current buildings which are joined by a connector were designated a National historic Landmark.
The Schomburg collection is considered as having the most useful Afrocentric artifacts and the rarest of any public library in the United States. It is considered the most prestigious assembly of any African-American materials in the country.
The collection contains materials from many including:
- A signed first edition of a book of poems by Phyllis Wheatley
- Melville Jean Herskovits (September 10, 1895 – February 25, 1963) was an American anthropologist who helped establish African and African-American studies in American academia.
- John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark; January 1, 1915 – July 16, 1998) was an American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and professional institutions in academia
- Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (May 19, 1930 – January 12, 1965) was a playwright and writer. She was the first African-American female author to have a play performed on Broadway.
- Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement.
- Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor.
There are also files of great importance including the following:
- the files, or papers of the International Labor Defense
- the Civil Rights Congress
- the Symphony of the New World
The papers of:
- Lawrence Brown (August 3, 1907 – September 5, 1988) was a jazz trombonist from California who best remembered for his work with the Duke Ellington orchestra. Brown was a session musician throughout his career, as well as recording albums under his own name.
- Melva Lorinda Price (November 14, 1902 – April 10, 1996) was an American educator and activist based in New York City
- Ralph Johnson Bunche was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th Century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Israel.
- Léon-Gontran Damas (March 28, 1912 – January 22, 1978) was a French poet and politician. He was one of the founders of the Négritude movement. He also used the pseudonym Lionel Georges André Cabassou.
- William Pickens (15 January 1881 – 6 April 1954) was an American orator, educator, journalist, and essayist. He wrote two autobiographies, first The Heir of Slaves, in 1911 and second Bursting Bonds in 1923, in which he mentioned race-motivated attacks on African Americans, both in the urban riots of 1919 and by lynching in 1921.
- William Pickens (15 January 1881 – 6 April 1954) was an American orator, educator, journalist, and essayist. He wrote two autobiographies, first The Heir of Slaves, in 1911 and second Bursting Bonds in 1923, in which he mentioned race-motivated attacks on African Americans, both in the urban riots of 1919 and by lynching in 1921.
- Hiram Rhodes Revels (September 27, 1827 – January 16, 1901) was an American politician, minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and a college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. Elected by the Mississippi legislature to the United States Senate as a Republican to represent Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era, he was the first African American to serve in either house of the U.S. Congress.
- Clarence Cameron White (August 10, 1880 – June 30, 1960) was an American neoromantic composer and concert violinist. Dramatic works by the composer were his best-known, such as the incidental music for the play Tambour and the opera Ouanga.
- Dennis Vincent Brutus (28 November 1924 – 26 December 2009) was a South African activist, educator, journalist and poet best known for his campaign to have South Africa banned from the Olympic Games due to its controversial racial policy of apartheid.
- Alexander Crummell (March 3, 1819 – September 10, 1898) was a pioneering African-American minister, academic and African nationalist.
- John Edward Bruce, also known as Bruce Grit or J. E. Bruce-Grit (February 22, 1856 – August 7, 1924), was an American journalist, historian, writer, orator, civil rights activist and Pan-African nationalist. He was born a slave in Maryland; as an adult, he founded numerous newspapers along the East Coast, as well as co-founding (with Arthur Alfonso Schomburg) the Negro Society for Historical Research in New York.
- James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.
- Christian Abraham Fleetwood (July 21, 1840 – September 28, 1914), was an African American non-commissioned officer in the United States Army, a commissioned officer in the D.C. National Guard, an editor, a musician, and a government official.
- Paul Leroy Robeson was an American bass baritone concert artist and stage and film actor who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political activism.
- Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915 ) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States.
- Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (January 24, 1874 – June 10, 1938), was a historian, writer, collector, and activist. Schomburg was a Puerto Rican of African and German descent.
The items include thousands of art objects, documents, rare recordings and more. It is the preeminent collection and is well worth the visit. If you get the opportunity to visit the Schomburg, Take it!
Although the list of exhibits is impressive, we strongly suggest that you continue to the Videos and Books that give so much more.
To see the full listing of posts, click on our Blog list
For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. These posts focus on the reality of Black life in America after the Civil War culminating in the landmark Brown v Board of Education that changed so many of the earlier practices. To see the posts, click here
For Black History Month 2021, we focused on Black Medical Achievements, Inventors and Scientists.To see those posts, click here.
We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. To see the posts, click here.
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Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience.
A previous post discussed the man behind the museum. To see that post, click here
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The Schomburg Center
In honor of the Schomburg Center’s 90th anniversary year, some of its curators, Junior Scholars, staff, and notable names share what the Schomburg means to them. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading research facilities devoted to the preservation of materials on the global African and African diasporan experiences. A focal point of Harlem’s cultural life, the Center also functions as the national research library in the field, providing free access to its wide-ranging noncirculating collections. It also sponsors programs and events that illuminate and illustrate the richness of black history and culture.
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The Black New Yorkers:
The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology The Black New Yorkers The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology Experience 400 years of African American culture and achievement in America’s greatest city “The Black New Yorkers will no doubt prove to be a document for the ages: a timely, highly informative record of the significant and multifaceted enrichment provided by our forebears and contemporaries to the evolution of one of the world’s greatest cities.” —Jessye Norman “This fascinating book says to the world that New York has been made great by the achievements of many people, including the black New Yorkers who have struggled here, who succeeded here, and who continue to work to make this city great.” —H. Carl McCall “The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illustrated Chronology is a book for all New Yorkers and for all Americans. It chronicles our story—the lives and times of people who for nearly four centuries have been creating a presence and a voice for themselves in the city, the nation, and the world.” —Maya Angelou from her Foreword Featuring more than 200 striking photographs, rare documents, and vintage illustrations from the Schomburg’s world-famous collection, and packed with thousands of fascinating details, The Black New Yorkers offers an unparalleled view of African American life. Afterword by David Dinkins
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The most amazing values you will find. We change them every day, so check often
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Arturo Schomburg at Fisk University:
Vanessa Valdés Highlights from Dr. Vanessa Valdés’ talk as part of the John Hope Franklin Center’s weekly Wednesdays at the Center series. While the Schomburg Library for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York is a renowned archive in which one can find any number of objects testifying to Black excellence, many are unaware that Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican Virgin Islander who personal collection was the foundation for what would become that library, also established a significant Africana collection in the Jim Crow South, at Fisk University, in the early 1930s. In this presentation, Dr. Valdés highlights that history, arguing that in doing so, Schomburg amply demonstrated not only the liberatory potential of the archive, but also the necessity for broadening definitions of Blackness to extend beyond the boundaries of this country.
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A Walk Through Harlem – Crossroads of People, Ideas and Dreams
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Beauty and Grooming
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African American Legends
Howard Dodson, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Guest: Howard Dodson, Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Taped 4/4/1994)
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Clothing and Accessories
ABH – Clothing and Accessories
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Arthur Alfonso Schomburg:
Black Bibliophile & Collector (African American Life This is the first full biography of the pioneering black collector whose detective work laid the foundation for the study of black history and culture. Born in Puerto Rico in 1874, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg came to New York militantly active in Caribbean revolutionary struggles. He searched out the hidden records of the black experience and built a collection of books, manuscripts, and art that had few rivals. Today it forms the core of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for research in Black Culture, one of the leading collections in the field. At the center of the Harlem Renaissance, Schomburg was a generous friend of many of the writers, artists, performers, collectors, scholars, and political figures who made Harlem the capital of Black America. A contributor to the major black journals of the period, he went on to head the Negro Collection at Fisk University and became curator of his own collection in the New York Public Library until his death in 1938
ABH – Arthur Alfonso Schomburg
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Cell Phones and Accessories
ABH – cell phones and accessories
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Sonia Sanchez:
My First Visit to the Schomburg Library
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Computers, Tablets and Components
ABH – Computers Tablets and Components
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Official Guide to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
This fully illustrated guide to the Smithsonian’s newest museum takes visitors on a journey through the richness and diversity of African American culture and the history of a people whose struggles, aspirations, and achievements have shaped the nation. Opened in September 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture welcomes all visitors who seek to understand, remember, and celebrate this history. The guidebook provides a comprehensive tour of the museum, including its magnificent building and grounds and eleven permanent exhibition galleries dedicated to themes of history, community, and culture. Highlights from the museum’s collection of artifacts and works of art are presented in full-color photographs, accompanied by evocative stories and voices that illuminate the American experience through the African American lens.
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Books and Textbooks
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The Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture
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It is an amazing collection of Afrocentric intellect, culture and imagination on showcase for the enlightment of all people. It is a strong contrast to the dearth of information that most of us have been exposed to. Having in excess of 11,000,000 items it shows that we have been duped by the information we have been taught and in turn are teaching the upcoming generations.