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Arthur Alfonso Schomburg

Another indication of the direct and indirect mentoring process is found in the works of the various self-educated
scholars. David Walker praised the teachings of his elder, Reverend Richard Allen. (12) Maria Stewart and Henry
Highland Garnet in turn evoked the example of David Walker. (13) The mentoring chain can be found in the
reflections of Arthur Schomburg who was inspired by John Bruce and Alexander Crummell. (14) John Henrik
Clarke was in turn mentored by Schomburg. (15) From: John Henrik Clarke: the Harlem connection to the
founding of Africana Studies...
John Henrik Clarke: the Harlem connection to the founding of Africana Studies, Carruthers, Jacob H

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Hypertext
Arthur Alfonso Schomburg ....................................................................................................................... 1
Independence advocate ................................................................................................................................. 3
Marriage and family ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Career ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
The Negro Society for Historical Research .................................................................................................. 4
The Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art .............................................................................. 4
Later years..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Legacy ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Links ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Born January 24, 1874
Santurce, Puerto Rico Died June 8, 1938
Brooklyn, New York Nationality Puerto Rican Political movement Harlem
Renaissance movement Spouse Elizabeth Morrow Taylor Notes

---------------------------------------------------Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a.k.a. as Arthur Schomburg, (January 24, 1874 June 8, 1938), was
a Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist in the United States who researched and raised
awareness of the great contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and Afro-Americans have made
to society. He was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Over the years, he
collected literature, art, slave narratives, and other materials of African history, which was
purchased to become the basis of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,
named in his honor, at the New York Public Library branch in Harlem.

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Schomburg was born in the town of Santurce, Puerto Rico (now part of San Juan) to Mara
Josefa, a freeborn black midwife from St. Croix, and Carlos Fderico Schomburg, a merchant of
German heritage.
While Schomburg was in grade school, one of his teachers claimed that blacks had no history,
heroes or accomplishments. Inspired to prove the teacher wrong, Schomburg determined that he
would find and document the accomplishments of Africans on their own continent and in the
diaspora, including Afro-Latinos, such as Jose Campeche, and later Afro-Americans. Schomburg
was educated at San Juan's Instituto Popular, where he learned commercial printing. At St.
Thomas College in the Danish-ruled Virgin Islands, he studied Negro Literature.[1]

Independence advocate
Schomburg immigrated to New York on April 17, 1891 and settled in the Harlem section of
Manhattan. He continued his studies to untangle the African thread of history in the fabric of the
Americas. After experiencing racial discrimination in the US, he began calling himself
"Afroborinqueo" which means "Afro-Puerto Rican".[1]
He became a member of the "Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico". He took an active role
advocating Puerto Rico's and Cuba's independence.[1][2]

Marriage and family

On June 30, 1895 Schomburg married Elizabeth Hatcher of Staunton, Virginia. She had come to
New York as part of a wave of migration from the South that would increase in the 20th century
and be known as the Great Migration. They had three sons: Maximo Gomez; Arthur Alfonso, Jr.
and Kingsley Guarionex Schomburg.[2]
After Elizabeth died in 1900, Schomburg married Elizabeth Morrow Taylor of Williamsburg,
North Carolina. They were married on March 17, 1902 and had two sons: Reginald Stanton and
Nathaniel Jos Schomburg.[2]

Career
In 1896, Schomburg began teaching Spanish in New York. From 1901 to 1906 Schomburg was
employed as messenger and clerk in the law firm of Pryor, Mellis and Harris, New York City. In
1906, he began working for the Bankers Trust Company. Later, he became a supervisor of the
Caribbean and Latin American Mail Section, and held that until he left in 1929.
While supporting himself and his family, Schomburg began his intellectual work of writing
about Caribbean and African-American history. His first known article, "Is Hayti Decadent?",
was published in 1904 in The Unique Advertiser. In 1909 he wrote Placido, a Cuban Martyr, a
short pamphlet about the poet and independence fighter Gabriel de la Concepcin Valdz.[2]

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The Negro Society for Historical Research

In 1911, Schomburg co-founded with John Edward Bruce the Negro Society for Historical
Research, to create an institute to support scholarly efforts. For the first time it brought together
African, West Indian and Afro-American scholars. Schomburg was later to become the President
of the American Negro Academy, founded in Washington, DC in 1874, which championed black
history and literature.
This was a period of founding of societies to encourage scholarship in African American history.
In 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and
History (now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) and
began publishing the Journal of Negro History.
Schomburg became involved in the Harlem Renaissance movement, which spread to other
African-American communities in the U.S. The concentration of blacks in Harlem from across
the US and Caribbean led to a flowering of arts, intellectual and political movements. He was the
co-editor of the 1912 edition of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray's Encyclopedia of the Colored
Race.
In March 1925 Schomburg published his essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past" in an issue of the
Survey Graphic devoted to the intellectual life of Harlem. It had widespread distribution and
influence. The autodidact historian John Henrik Clarke told of being so inspired by the essay that
at age seventeen he left home in Columbus, Georgia to seek out Mr. Schomburg to further his
studies in African history. Alain Locke included the essay in his edited collection The New
Negro.[3]

The Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art

After the New York Public Library (NYPL) purchased his extensive collection of literature, art
and other materials in 1926, they appointed Schomburg curator of the Schomburg Collection of
Negro Literature and Art, named in his honor, at the 135th Street Branch (Harlem) of the
Library. It was later renamed the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.[4]
Between 1931 and 1932 Schomburg served as Curator of the Negro Collection at the library of
Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, helping direct their acquisition of materials. During 1932
he traveled to Cuba. While there he met various Cuban artists and writers, and acquired more
material for his studies.
He was granted an honorary membership of the Men's Business Club in Yonkers, New York. He
also held the position of treasurer for the Loyal Sons of Africa in New York and was elevated
being the past master of Prince Hall Lodge Number 38, Free and Accepted Masons (F.A.M.) and
Rising Sun Chapter Number 4, R.A.M.

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Later years
Following dental surgery, Schomburg became ill and died in Madison Park Hospital, Brooklyn,
New York on June 8, 1938. He was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.[2]

Legacy
By the 1920s Schomburg had amassed a world-renowned collection which consisted of artworks,
manuscripts, rare books, slave narratives and other artifacts of Black history.[5] In 1926 the New
York Public Library purchased his collection for $10,000 with the help of a grant from the
Carnegie Corporation. The collection formed the cornerstone of the Library's Division of Negro
History at its 135th Street Branch in Harlem. The library appointed Schomburg curator of the
collection, which was named in his honor: the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black
Culture. Schomburg used his proceeds from the sale to fund travel to Spain, France, Germany
and England, to seek out more pieces of black history to add to the collection.[6] In 2002, scholar
Molefi Kete Asante named Schomburg to his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[7]
To honor Schomburg, Hampshire College awards a $30,000 merit-based scholarship in his name
for students who "demonstrate promise in the areas of strong academic performance and
leadership at Hampshire College and in the community."[8]
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's work served as an inspiration to Puerto Ricans, Latinos and AfroAmericans alike. The power of knowing about the great contribution that Afro-Latin Americans
and Afro-Americans have made to society, helped continuing work and future generations in the
Civil rights movement.[5]

Puerto Rican literature

List of Puerto Ricans of African descent
Black history in Puerto Rico

References
1. Robert Knight, "Arthur Alfonso 'Afroborinqueno' Schomburg", History Notes, Global
African Community, accessed 2 Feb 2009
2. "Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: Pionero en la historia afronorteamericana", Nuestro
Mondo/People's Weekly World, accessed 2 Feb 2009
3. Arthur Schomburg, "The Negro Digs Up His Past", The Survey Graphic, Harlem: March
1925, University of Virginia Library, accessed 2 Feb 2009
4. Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, New York Public Library
5. The Arthur A. Schomburg Papers
6. NYPL, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
7. Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical
Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
8. http://www.aie.org/Scholarships/?StartRow=241&q=performance&SearchType=1

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Links

Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience

Schomburg (Arthur A.) Papers, 1724-1895 (1904-1938), New York Public Library
"Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture", New York Public Library
"The Arthur A. Schomburg Papers"
"Schomburg Museum", Kappa Alpha Psi history

Arthur Alfonso Schomburg