‘A counter-narrative of history’: Schomburg Center’s 100 years of celebrating Black culture
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- The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a New York Public Library research center, holds more than 11 million items and is marking its 100th anniversary as the US celebrates its 250th.
- The New York Public Library purchased founder Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's personal library of 4,600 pamphlets, artwork, and books in 1926, after he emigrated from Puerto Rico to New York at 17 and built collections reflecting the global, multilingual Black experience.
- The "Declaring America: 1776 and Beyond" exhibit, on display at NYPL's Schwarzman Building until January 10, 2027, features Schomburg pieces including a "40 Acres and a Mule" student newspaper, March on Washington commemorative prints, and David Hammons' 1983 "Marcus Garvey's Vitamins" sculpture.
- The Schomburg's largest processed collection is Maya Angelou's archive — more than 840 boxes of manuscripts and personal items, including an early handwritten manuscript of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" on yellow paper.
- Art and artifacts curator Tammi Lawson, the division's lead curator for nearly 40 years, called the collection "a counter-narrative of history" and secured a budget to expand Black women artists' representation; the Schomburg now holds the largest public-institution collection of Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage.
- Most of the Schomburg's curatorial staff are women of color — collection manager Serena Torres says she meditates while handling Lynore Routte's "Crying Eye Portal Vessel for Transmuting Grief," using the object to offload personal grief.
Why it matters: With Black Americans' contributions long marginalized in mainstream archives, the Schomburg's century of what Lawson calls "vindicating evidences" — from Maya Angelou's 840-box archive to the largest public collection of Augusta Savage — provides an institutional corrective. The center's 100th-anniversary programming, including exhibits running through December 5, 2026, and a 100-song playlist featuring Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," keeps that counter-narrative work publicly visible alongside the country's 250th-anniversary commemorations.
