AFRICAN DIASPORA

     The dispersion of African peoples from the
African continent began centuries before the advent
of the transatlantic slave trade.  It has continued
unabated down to the present day.  As a consequence,
the creation of the African diaspora -- the
establishment of the presence of people of African
descent throughout the world -- is one of the oldest
and most continuous aspects of the global black
experience.

     Before the 15th century, African people,
voluntarily and involuntarily, migrated to Europe,
Asia and the Americas.  Some were enslaved, as in
the case of many who settled in Spain, Turkey,
Portugal and other Mediterranean areas.  Others
were traders, soldiers and adventurers.  The African
presence in pre-Columbian Europe is well documented
and studies such as those of Ivan Van Sertima (They
Came Before Columbus) make it clear that Africans
also ventured across the Atlantic.

     It was the transatlantic slave trade, however,
that produced the largest and most sustained
migration of African peoples from the continent in
human history.  Conservative studies place their
numbers at more than 10 million human beings
primarily from West Africa.  It is this population
and its descendants that have become the principle
subjects of the emerging field of African diasporan
studies.

     The Center's collections on the black
experience in the United States are among the
strongest in the world.  Its book holdings are
virtually comprehensive.  It has strong African
American newspaper and serials collections.  African
American manuscript, photograph, art, sound
recording and film holdings are also strong.
Currently, roughly 15-20 percent of the Center's
book materials cover Caribbean and Latin American
subjects.  Among manuscript materials, the Center's
Haitian-related resources are the strongest,
documenting Haitian developments from Toussaint to
Aristide.  The Herskovits and Westerman collections
are also strong, and the records of the AME Church's
Department of Home and Foreign Missions hold
incredible research promise.   The records of The
Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (1803-1947)
and the Congregational Council for World Mission
(1803-1847), which the Center has acquired on
microfilm, are essential resources for the study
of the 19th and 20th-century British Caribbean.
The recorded sound collection is strong in Caribbean
and Afro-Latin musics.  Coverage of other aspects of
the black experience in the Western Hemisphere is
representative, but in need of strengthening.  A
major Center-wide priority is to continue to build
collections in this area.

     The Center has acquired a representative body
of published literature on the African presence in
Europe since the Schomburg era.  But collecting
primary research materials on this area, as well as
on the black experience in Asia has been sporadic
and needs development.  Still, within the Center's
five divisions, there are representative works that
give clear evidence that the study of the African
diaspora is a burgeoning field and that continuing
to develop the Center's holdings in this area must
remain an institutional imperative.