The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Celebrates 90 Years of Preserving African and African-Diasporan Experiences

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 - The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem is celebrating 90 years as one of the world’s leading research and cultural institutions devoted to the black experience with a limited-time public display of treasures from its collections and a black tie gala honoring longtime supporters.

The Schomburg Center – part of The New York Public Library – has been devoted to the preservation of materials on global African and African Diasporan experiences since its inception in 1925. It currently has over 10 million items in its wide-ranging, non-circulating collections, including papers and artifacts from prominent figures such as Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, Ralph Bunche, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry, Nat King Cole, Booker T. Washington, and many more. It is also the foremost place in the nation to access manuscripts on slavery and abolitionism, and a wide range of historic photographs.

Additionally, the Schomburg’s rotating slate of exhibitions, film screenings, and programs illuminating and illustrating the richness of black history and culture has made it a beloved focal point of cultural life in Harlem and beyond.

A respected leader in its field, The Schomburg Center received a prestigious 2015 National Medal for Museum and Library Service – presented by First Lady Michelle Obama in Washington DC – to kick off its anniversary celebration earlier this year.

On September 28, the Library will celebrate the Schomburg with an anniversary gala at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Inaugural Schomburg Medals will be presented to exemplary leaders in the fields of arts, culture, and business whose works drive the Center’s mission to celebrate black excellence and success. Honorees include Xerox Chief Executive Officer Ursula Burns, poet Elizabeth Alexander, political advisor Vernon Jordan, TV producer Norman Lear, and businessman Franklin A. Thomas. The Ford Foundation will be honored for its longstanding support of the Schomburg Center.

The co-chairs for the event are Valentino D. Carlotti, Barbara G. Fleischman, Ruth and Sid Lapidus, Crystal McCrary and Raymond J. McGuire, and Katharine and William Rayner. The corporate chairs are American Express and BNY Mellon. For more information about the Schomburg 90th Anniversary gala please email schomburg90gala@nypl.org or call 212.930.0671. Alternatively, you can visit nypl.org/schomburg_gala.

Additionally, for two days only on September 29 and 30, select treasures from the Schomburg’s collections will be on display for the public at The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Highlights of the display – called From The New York Public Library's Collections: Celebrating 90 Years of the Schomburg and offered in historic Astor Hall – include:

• Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” manuscript
• Page from the original poem by Angelou read at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremony in 1993
• Richard Wright’s “Native Son” manuscript
• Telegrams from Langston Hughes and Tennessee Williams to Lorraine Hansberry congratulating her on A Raisin in the Sun opening night. Additionally, Hansberry's typescript of A Raisin in the Sun.
• Malcolm X’s journals and Qur’an
• Anti-Apartheid and civil rights buttons
• “John Brown,” an address delivered by Frederick Douglass at Harpers Ferry and edited in Douglass's own hand
• An 1860 map of Africa
• John Coltrane’s “Lover Man” score
• A flyer from May 7, 1925 announcing the grand opening of the center that would become the Schomburg
• Title page of abolitionist minister Nathaniel Paul's address delivered in 1827 to celebrate the abolition of slavery. The item is part of Schomburg's Ruth and Sid Lapidus Slavery and Abolition Collection. 

“I couldn’t be more proud to lead this amazing institution and its talented and dedicated staff at this milestone moment in the Schomburg Center’s history,” says Schomburg Center director Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad. “So much of what we take for granted today about multiculturalism, social justice, democracy, and the importance of cultural heritage to identify formation is owed to the many users of the Schomburg’s collections and resources. We will continue to stand at the ready for the young and old alike in search of knowledge and inspiration for the work we must continue to do in the 21st century.”

"For 90 years, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has stood in Harlem as the world's greatest library and repository dedicated to the black experience, with millions of unique and irreplaceable manuscripts, photographs, rare books and more, says New York Public Library President Tony Marx. “The programs, exhibitions, staff expertise, and research materials at the Schomburg Center tell a story that is central to the American and global experience, and we are extremely proud to preserve and share that story now and with generations to come."

The Schomburg Center began as The New York City Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints, a special division of The New York Public Library’s 135th Street branch (the first New York City library to hire African American employees). Under the leadership of librarian Ernestine Rose, the division opened to meet the needs of an increasingly African American community. The division first won international acclaim in 1926 when the personal collection of the distinguished Puerto Rican-born black scholar and bibliophile, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, was added to the collection (Rose’s letter to Schomburg inquiring about the collection is also in the anniversary display). His collection included more than 5,000 books, 3,000 manuscripts, 2,000 etchings and paintings, and several thousand pamphlets. Schomburg served as curator of the division from 1932 until his death in 1938. 

In 1940, the division was renamed the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History and Prints. In 1972, the Schomburg Collection was designated as one of the research libraries of the New York Public Library and became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The expansion of the Schomburg Center in 1991 created spaces for two exhibition galleries; the renovated American Negro Theater; and the 340-seat Langston Hughes Auditorium, in which concerts, forums, lectures, performances, and other special events have taken place.

Throughout the years, scholars, students, educators, artists and others have flocked to the Schomburg Center to discover the millions of treasures in its collection. In addition to the papers mentioned previously, items include the collected works of 18th century poet Phyllis Wheatley, the world’s largest collection of “Green Books (annual guidebooks for African American travelers during the Jim Crow era), photos by noted black photographers Gordon Parks, James Van Der Zee, Roy DeCarava and Moneta Sleet, Jr., and the files and papers of the International Labor Defense, the Civil Rights Congress, and the National Negro Congress.

"If we were not for the events of this room, I would not be who I am today," says civil rights activist and actor Harry Belafonte, when asked about his thoughts about the Schomburg’s American Negro Theater. There, actors such as himself, and Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and Sidney Poitier got their start, performing in plays such as Anna Lucasta, You Can’t Take it With You and Riders to the Sea.   Educator Geoffrey Canada expresses similar thoughts about the Schomburg: “The Schomburg is a gift to us all, but particularly to black children, he says. “It is a singular resource where they can discover the richness of their heritage and develop the feeling of pride they need to take their rightful place in the world.”

The Center is currently run by renowned scholar Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who wrote the award-winning book The Condemnation of Blackness and previously taught at the University of Indiana. Since his arrival as director of the Center in 2011, visitors have increased 300 percent.

Popular programming series include the Behind the Lines author talks, the Talks at the Schomburg  discussion series with luminaries such as Harry Belafonte, author Ta-Nehisi Coates and Parliament Funkadelic’s own George Clinton, the Women’s Jazz Festival in March, and the First Fridays dance parties on the first Friday of every month.

Additionally, the Schomburg Center offers free exhibitions for the public. This fall, two exhibitions are opening on Oct. 1 –Unveiling Visions: The Alchemy of the Black Imagination, a visually-stimulating look at Afrofuturism, black speculative imagination and Diasporan cultural production, and Black Suburbia: From Levittown to Ferguson, a introspection of the investigations into the historical dynamics of suburban life, using intimate stories to illuminate the black suburban experience of the 20th Century.

Additional Schomburg programs include:

• Junior Scholars: Each year, 100 youth from the New York metropolitan area are selected to participate in a uniquely designed pre-college, year-round black studies program, facilitated by Schomburg staff.  Designed with an a project-based approach to teaching about black American history and the global black experience, the program creates a collaborative, inquiry-based environment by activity engaging Scholars with the Schomburg’s vast collections, exhibitions, and educational resources.  
• Scholars in Residence Program: By encouraging research and writing on black history and culture, the program facilitates interaction among participating scholars, and provides widespread dissemination of findings through lectures, publications, colloquia and seminars. Established in 1983, the residency program has provided direct funding support for 159 fellows, and additional residency opportunities for 26 independently funded humanities scholars working on projects on African, Afro-American, and Afro-Caribbean history and culture.
• The Lapidus Center for Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery: Designed to encourage research and writing on the slave trade, slavery, and anti-slavery in the Atlantic world; promote and facilitate interaction among the participants including fellows funded by other sources; and to facilitate the dissemination of the researchers' findings through lectures, publications, and the ongoing Schomburg Center Colloquium and Seminar Series, the program was formed in 2014.

Media Contact :

Adenike Olanrewaju | adenikeolanrewaju@nypl.org

About The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research unit of The New York Public Library, is generally recognized as one of the leading institutions of its kind in the world.  Celebrating its 90th anniversary, the Center has collected, preserved and provided access to materials documenting black life, and promoted the study and interpretation of the history and culture of peoples of African descent.  Educational and Cultural Programs at the Schomburg complement its research services and interpret its collections.  Seminars, forums, workshops, staged readings, film screenings, performing arts programs, and special events are presented year-round.  More information about Schomburg’s collections and programs can be found at www.schomburgcenter.org

About The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.