What’s Up @ the Schomburg?
It is sometimes very easy to walk by a building or an art gallery and not give it a second glance. Today’s fast pace can almost encourage that sort of behavior. But the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is not something that you should let pass by. It remains open for viewing for the next 130 days! Fit it into your busy schedule, somehow!
Memorabilia to manuscripts, rare books and photos, items that date back as far as the 4th century can be found in this 3 building complex. New items and artifacts are also on display for your viewing pleasure and continued education in the history of Black Culture.
Here are a few of the items you will find in their exhibition:
- a bill of sale for an enslaved Yoruba woman in Brazil; a document signed by Toussaint Louverture in Haiti in 1800
- an 1801 letter from the future king of Northern Haiti, Henry Christophe
- an 1857 list of Cuban runaways
- Black Manhattan, a collage by Romare Bearden
- Marcus Garvey’s newspaper The Negro World
- documents from the AME Church, the Nation of Islam, the Hebrew Israelites, the Ethiopian Church
Some of the larger collections on display…
- The Malcolm X Collection, spotlighting photographs of him at various stages in his life, family photos, as well as his Qur’an
- The Lorraine Hansberry Collection, which showcases the award-winning playwright’s personal papers, manuscripts, and photographs
- the Melville and Frances Herskovits Collection of African and African Diaspora art, papers, and photographs, assembled by the noted anthropologists
- renowned theater historian Helen Armstead Johnson’s collection, which includes historical photos, posters, theater memorabilia, and rarely seen scrapbooks of black entertainers of the 18th and 20th centuries.
Please visit their website for their complete calendar, directions, and hours