Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library Where Every Month Is Black History Month For more information, please visit www.schomburgcenter.org
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Founded in 1925 as the Division of Negro Literature, History, and Prints of the 135th Street Branch Library by the Citizens Committee led by Arturo Schomburg and Ernestine Rose, a branch librarian, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the leading cultural institutions in the world devoted to the preservation of materials focused on African-American, African Diaspora, and Af

rican experiences. Recognized for its prominence scholarly research and its vast collection spanning over 11 million items, the Schomburg Center won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2015. Today, the Schomburg serves as a space that encourages lifelong education and exploration with diverse programs that illuminate the richness of Black history and culture, and in 2017 it was named a National Historic Landmark.

Tomorrow, 2/6 | 6:30 PM | ONLINE: Join us as authors Mike Africa, Jr, Millicent E. Brown, and David J. Dennis, Jr. discu...
02/05/2025

Tomorrow, 2/6 | 6:30 PM | ONLINE: Join us as authors Mike Africa, Jr, Millicent E. Brown, and David J. Dennis, Jr. discuss their lives in the movement and the process and politics of writing personal histories of Black freedom struggles.
https://ow.ly/Rg3850US4HY

Conversations in Black Freedom Studies online focuses on the lives of activists in the movement and their personal histories.

In two weeks! Wednesday, 2/19 | 6:30 PM: Join panelists Jamal Joseph, Akemi Kochiyama, Tamara Payne, and Jaimee Swift fo...
02/05/2025

In two weeks! Wednesday, 2/19 | 6:30 PM: Join panelists Jamal Joseph, Akemi Kochiyama, Tamara Payne, and Jaimee Swift for a conversation about the revolutionary friendship of and .

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Malcolm X's death, panelists discuss their work, archives, and their legacy of solidarity.

02/04/2025
Coming up at 6:30 PM, TONIGHT, 2/3: Join us online for our program, Between the Lines: Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinar...
02/03/2025

Coming up at 6:30 PM, TONIGHT, 2/3: Join us online for our program, Between the Lines: Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance.
https://ow.ly/pkrX50USO34

Tomorrow, 2/4 | 7 PM: Join us for a preview of the upcoming documentary Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP. Blon...
02/03/2025

Tomorrow, 2/4 | 7 PM: Join us for a preview of the upcoming documentary Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP. Blond, blue-eyed Walter White led the organization from 1929 to 1955. The film traces White’s life. A talkback follows. Produced with American Experience PBS.

Join us for a preview and panel discussion of FORGOTTEN HERO: WALTER WHITE AND THE NAACP, a new documentary from American Experience PBS.

The Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Summer Institute returns this summer 2025! Our four-week fellowship program is open to r...
02/03/2025

The Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Summer Institute returns this summer 2025! Our four-week fellowship program is open to rising college seniors who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The in-person summer institute will provide archival research at the Schomburg Center, dormitory housing, meals each day, and a stipend. There is no virtual format offered. The online application is open through Friday, March 28, 2025.
https://ow.ly/tMqk50UnBo3

Tomorrow, February 3 | 6:30 PM: Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: The ...
02/02/2025

Tomorrow, February 3 | 6:30 PM: Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance in conversation with Melissa Noel of Essence magazine. Harlem Rhapsody centers the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Jessie Redmon Fauset, the literary editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine (1919–1926) and mentor to writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and Claude McKay.

In this work of historical fiction, Murray weaves together research and imagination to bring to life an exciting moment in history and the life of a woman considered a "midwife" to the Harlem Renaissance.

Between the lines of the latest book Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance, Jessie Fauset

Coming up next week!  Join us. Monday, February 3 | 6:30 PM | Schomburg CenterBetween the Lines: Harlem Rhapsody: The Ex...
02/01/2025

Coming up next week! Join us.

Monday, February 3 | 6:30 PM | Schomburg Center
Between the Lines: Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance

Tuesday, February 4 | 7 PM | Schomburg Center
Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP (Film preview and discussion)

Thursday, February 6 | 6:30 PM | Online
Conversations in Black Freedom Studies: First Person: Writing Activist Lives From the Inside

Explore the Winter/Spring 2025 program schedule for the Schomburg Center. 

  to poet, playwright, and novelist Langston Hughes (1901-1967) who was born   (February 1).Ever wonder which poem that ...
02/01/2025

to poet, playwright, and novelist Langston Hughes (1901-1967) who was born (February 1).

Ever wonder which poem that Hughes wrote that was one of his favorites? In this page from his collection in our Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division (MARB), he reveals it’s “Border Line.”

“It seems to carry within itself a melody which I can hear although I cannot sing a note,” he stated in a typed page. It was signed with green ink—the preferred color for many materials signed by Hughes.

Because he wanted his work to be accessible to future scholars, Hughes donated many of his papers to the , which holds a sizable portion of his poems, plays, and other unpublished works.

In honor of his 124th birthday, make a trip to see the memorial Langston Hughes Lobby (where his ashes are interred in a book-shaped urn!), and spend an afternoon seeing the many interesting Langston Hughes items across our five divisions. https://ow.ly/oWAf50URymv


Photo 1: NYPL Digital Collections Image: psnypl_scg_244
Photo 2 and 3: Langston Hughes Collection, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

01/31/2025

Tuesday, 2/4 | 7 PM: Join us for a preview of the upcoming documentary Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP. Blond, blue-eyed Walter White led the organization from 1929 to 1955. The film traces White’s life. A talkback follows.
https://ow.ly/q4gI50URjBj

Thursday, February 6 | 6:30 PM | ONLINE: Join us for the first Conversation in Black Freedom Studies program of 2025! Fo...
01/31/2025

Thursday, February 6 | 6:30 PM | ONLINE: Join us for the first Conversation in Black Freedom Studies program of 2025! Four life-long activists will discuss their lives in the movement and the process and politics of writing personal histories of Black freedom struggles.

Millicent E. Brown will present on Another Sojourner Looking for Truth, illuminating her long life in the movement beyond her role in the desegregation of schools in South Carolina.

Mike Africa, Jr., will discuss On a Move: Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing and a Native Son's Lifelong Battle for Justice, a story of ongoing resistance in the face of extreme state violence.

David J. Dennis, Jr., and David J. Dennis, Sr., will share about their intergenerational legacy in the movement from Freedom Summer to the Algebra Project, which they write about in The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride.

Conversations in Black Freedom Studies online focuses on the lives of activists in the movement and their personal histories.

Open through February 28! Don’t miss our exhibition JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth. See selections from  ’s pers...
01/29/2025

Open through February 28! Don’t miss our exhibition JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth. See selections from ’s personal papers, manuscripts, and more.
https://ow.ly/QhMJ50UPlsx

Novelist, essayist, intellectual, and activist James Baldwin (1924–1987) is renowned as one of the world’s most influential and prophetic voices of...

Marlyn Santos, a LEAD Page with our Photographs and Prints Division, discusses her experiences as an intern in the depar...
01/29/2025

Marlyn Santos, a LEAD Page with our Photographs and Prints Division, discusses her experiences as an intern in the department.
https://ow.ly/UYNJ50UO01Q

Schomburg Center intern Marlyn Santos describes her experience working in the Center's Photographs and Prints Division. 

Next Monday, February 3 | 6:30 PM: Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: T...
01/27/2025

Next Monday, February 3 | 6:30 PM: Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance in conversation with Melissa Noel of Essence magazine.

Harlem Rhapsody centers the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Jessie Redmon Fauset, the literary editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine (1919–1926) and mentor to writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and Claude McKay. In this work of historical fiction, Murray weaves together research and imagination to bring to life an exciting moment in history and the life of a woman considered a "midwife" to the Harlem Renaissance.
https://ow.ly/TfQx50UNZGi

Between the lines of the latest book Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance, Jessie Fauset

Coming up at 9 AM, today, January 27: Join us online for our keynote conversation with author Jesse Hagopian. He will di...
01/27/2025

Coming up at 9 AM, today, January 27: Join us online for our keynote conversation with author Jesse Hagopian. He will discuss his new book, Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education.
https://ow.ly/AnJW50UNLmZ

Photo: Lisa Herndon

Tuesday, February 4 | 7 PM:  Join us for a preview of the upcoming documentary Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAAC...
01/26/2025

Tuesday, February 4 | 7 PM: Join us for a preview of the upcoming documentary Forgotten Hero: Walter White and the NAACP. While some believe that the Civil Rights Movement began in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, the stage had been set decades before by activists in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Blond, blue-eyed Walter White, son of an enslaved Black woman and powerful white man, led the organization from 1929 to 1955. The film traces White’s life and looks for the reasons behind his disappearance from history.

A talkback follows with the film’s director Michelle Smawley, its writer/director Rob Rapley, and David Levering Lewis, professor emeritus of History at New York University. Cameo George, Emmy Award–winning producer, will moderate the discussion. Produced in partnership with American Experience PBS. https://ow.ly/yQAp50UN8oT

Join us for a preview and panel discussion of FORGOTTEN HERO: WALTER WHITE AND THE NAACP, a new documentary from American Experience PBS.

Coming up at 6:30 PM, Tonight, January 24: Join us online for our Annual Arturo A. Schomburg Lecture and Conversation.  ...
01/24/2025

Coming up at 6:30 PM, Tonight, January 24: Join us online for our Annual Arturo A. Schomburg Lecture and Conversation.
https://ow.ly/hqz650UMXzx

Photo: Lisa Herndon

As a collector, scholar, and curator,   exchanged many letters that paint a picture of him as a highly regarded authorit...
01/24/2025

As a collector, scholar, and curator, exchanged many letters that paint a picture of him as a highly regarded authority on Black culture deeply engaged with a global community. Over 2,000 letters from his archive at the are available in Digital Collections. Explore some of his correspondence on and see how he earned his reputation as “the Sherlock Holmes of Negro history.”

Explore some of Arturo Schomburg’s correspondence and see how he earned his reputation as “the Sherlock Holmes of Negro history.”

Address

515 Malcolm X Boulevard
New York, NY
10037

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

(212) 491-2200

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About the Schomburg Center

Founded in 1925 as the Negro Literature, History and Prints Division of the 135th Street Branch Library by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the leading cultural institutions in the world devoted to the preservation of materials focused on African-American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. Recognized for its prominence in digital humanities, scholarly research, and vast collection spanning over 10 million items, the Schomburg Center won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2015. Today, the Schomburg serves as a space that encourages lifelong education and exploration with diverse programs that illuminate the richness of black history and culture, and in 2017 it was named a National Historic Landmark. For more information, please visit www.schomburgcenter.org