The Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a New York Public Library research library. It was founded on the personal collection of Black Arts that New York Puerto Rican scholar Arturo Alfonso Schomburg collected during the Harlem Renaissance. 🇵🇷
You are a collector like Mr. Schomburg.”
New York Public Library Schomburg Center publicist speaking to New York Latin Culture Magazine Editor-in-Chief Keith Widyolar
Schomburg Center Tickets
Many events are free and open to the public.
Schomburg Center
515 Malcolm X Blvd
(between 135th and 136th St)
Harlem, Manhattan
Subways
(2)(3) to 135th St
Instagram @schomburgcenter
The Schomburg Story
Schomburg was born in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1874. A grade school teacher told him that Black people have no history, heroes or accomplishments. Of course that is ignorant nonsense from another era, but it inspired the young man to prove his teacher wrong. He became a commercial printer and began to study Black literature. He moved to New York in 1891 and began collecting.
In New York, the young man continued his research and began writing. He joined some of the first scholarly organizations for people of color. Schomburg was one of the scholars of the Harlem Renaissance (1918-mid 1930s).
The New York Public Library purchased the Schomburg collection in 1926, made him curator and renamed the 135th St Branch Library after him. He died in 1938 and is buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Not many people get libraries named after them, and certainly no uncultured ones. Schomburg sure proved that old teacher wrong. Some people say mean things just to make you upset so you can’t progress. It’s the colonizer’s game, but don’t play the game. Ignore it, go to the library and develop yourself.
Today we all follow in the footsteps of people like Schomburg who refused to be put down and held back. He is a great Puerto Rican, a great New Yorker, and a great American, an inspiration for all generations. [We met one of his great-grandaughters in Santurce, Puerto Rico. What a great family!]
Schomburg Center Calendar
- The 10th Black Comic Book Festival is virtual on Martin Luther King Weekend, Thu-Sat, Jan 13-15, 2022. nypl.org 🇵🇷🇺🇸
- On Jan 24, remember Arturo Schomburg, the Puerto Rican intellectual whose collection of African Diaspora culture became the core of the New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
30th Women’s Jazz Festival
Alicia Waller & The Excursion play the 30th Women’s Jazz Festival on Mon, Mar 7 at 7pm. $35. nypl.org 🇺🇸
Renée Neufvill and Laurin Talese play the 30th Women’s Jazz Festival on Mon, Mar 14 at 7pm. $35. nypl.org 🇺🇸
Endea Owens celebrates women Jazz composers at the 30th Women’s Jazz Festival on Mon, Mar 21 at 7pm. $35. nypl.org 🇺🇸
Previously
Kids of All Ages Love the Schomburg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival 2021
nypl.org/blackcomicbookfestival 📚🎪 Wednesday- Saturday, January 13-16, 2021. FREE
Black Comic Book Festival 2020
Friday-Saturday, January 17-18, 2020
SCHOMBURG CENTER
Harlem, NYC
Black Comic Book Festival 2019
Friday-Saturday, January 18-19, 2019
SCHOMBURG CENTER
Harlem, NYC
Buy, sell, learn, watch or show your stuff at this family comic book festival
“Crusader: Martin Luther King Jr.” at Schomburg Center
HARLEM; Mon-Sat, Jan 15 to Apr 6, 2019; African photography exhibition ~ Behind-the-scenes pictures of Dr. King traveling, at rest, and in celebration