All rights reserved. Kentake Page, founded by Meserette Kentake, is a Pan-Afrikan Black history blog that celebrates the diversity of the Afrikan historical experience both on the continent and in the diaspora. Last night at a candidate debate hosted by block associations in Harlem, incumbent Council Member Inez Dickens, first elected to the District 9 seat in 2005, faced off against challenger Vince Morgan, a community development banker and former chair of the 125th Street Business Improvement District.

As two candidates running for office who reflect the Afro-LatinX and Harlem communities respectively, we are coming together to advocate for a subway station to be named after Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. In 1925, Schomburg published his most widely known essay, “The Negro Digs Up His Past” in a special issue of Survey Graphic.

Schomburg was very active in the liberation movements of Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Within a few months Schomburg helped to organize Las Dos Antillas (The Two Islands) and served as secretary of the group. Determined to unearth Black history and achievements, Schomburg began frequenting rare book stores and other collections, purchasing books, pamphlets, historical documents, poems, newspapers, speeches, letters, prints, art, and more. claims to individual, social, and political equality.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante named Schomburg to his list of 100 Greatest African Americans. 1874 to a Black mother from the Virgin Islands […] Around this time, Schomburg also began to go by his given name again: Arturo.

“He was holding down the desk.

In 1896, Schomburg began teaching Spanish in New York. He decided to ignore the differences and to concentrate on the global history that they both Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (January 24, 1874-June 8, 1938) was an Afro-Puerto Rican historian, writer, and activist, a prominent figure during the Harlem Renaissance.

In-depth picture book biography of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, an intellectual, bibliophile, activist, historian, writer, curator, and protector of knowledge. Arturo used the money he received to travel to Spain, France, Germany, and England

The library appointed him the curator of the collection titled the Schomburg Collection

A group of politicians including the two hosts, State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, and Assembly Members Grace Meng and Francisco Moya called for reopening Elmhurst’s Long Island Railroad Station, shuttered in […].

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. to the Harlem section of New York. Kentake spends her free time reading, researching, and writing up the posts on the site. Council Member Antonio Reynoso speaks for many people watching with dismay how our city's law enforcement is cracking down on people who do not appear to pose a threat to the public. His Schomburg served as curator of this collection from 1932 until his death in 1938. His father was a businessman whose mother was from India and whose father was of German stock. Schomburg immigrated to New York on April 17, 1891, and settled in the Harlem section of Manhattan. Wilfredo Florentino is a life-long Brooklynite and community advocate. getting oral histories, and writing scholarly articles himself.

As our nation is rightly talking about the need to remove confederate statues, and odes to colonizers, we must also talk about lifting up our freedom fighters and those who paved the way, when it was popular.

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.)

He had also become an initiate in the craft of freemasonry in 1892, and met his life-long friend, the bibliophile and fellow Mason, John Edward Bruce. In 1911, Schomburg co-founded with John Edward Bruce the Negro Society for Historical Research, to create an institute to support scholarly efforts. to seek out more pieces of black history to add to his collection. In Since 1940, the … 1926 the Carnegie Corporation purchased it for $10,000 and donated it to the New York Public White collectors had little interest in the materials he desired, allowing him to amass a staggering array of documents: original newspapers published by Frederick Douglass, collections of poems by Phillis Wheatley, letters from Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, books and journals by Paul Cuffee, music by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, newspaper clippings about Ira Aldridge, and more.

I was a teenager then. Filed Under: History, MTA, Op/Ed, Promoted. The concentration of Blacks in Harlem from across the US and Caribbean led to a flowering of arts, intellectual and political movements. While continuing to work as a clerk and messenger during the day, first for a law firm and then for the Bankers Trust Company, Schomburg accumulated more material.

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.”. In spring of 1892, Schomburg went to New Orleans on Las Dos Antillas business.

The club pledged “actively to assist in the independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico,” vowing to remain an active organization until both regions attained their independence. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, writer, activist, collector, and important figure of the Harlem Renaissance was born in Saturce, Puerto Rico.His mother, a black woman, was originally from St. Croix, Danish Virgin Islands (now the U.S. Virgin Islands), and his father was a Puerto Rican of German ancestry.
He also researched the lives of historical figures whitewashed by history, finding evidence of the African ancestry of naturalist John James Audubon, composer Ludwig van Beethoven, and Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, among others.

Pryor, Mellis and Harris (law firm), New York, NY, clerk-messen…

He was the co-editor of the 1912 edition of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray’s Encyclopedia of the Colored Race.

Schomburg’s interests turned to the African-American community. After Elizabeth died in 1900, Schomburg married Elizabeth Morrow Taylor in 1902, and had two sons: Reginald Stanton and Nathaniel José Schomburg. Media Kit His shifting loyalties were also due to his marriage to Elizabeth (Bessie) Hatcher in 1895, and the birth of their three sons: Maximo Gomez; Arthur Alfonso, Jr. and Kingsley Guarionex Schomburg.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library (NYPL) branch in Harlem, was named in his honor. The story is told in verse, with beautiful illustrations, a thorough timeline, source notes and a small bibliography. In 2002 scholar Molefi Kete Privacy Policy. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, also known as Arthur Schomburg, was a meticulous historian and important Harlem Renaissance figure. Please check your email for further instructions.

He didn’t abandon his Caribbean identity, however; his first major article, published in the Unique Advertiser in 1904, was a treatise on Haitian society called, “Is Hayti Decadent?”. Her website is at KristinForHarlem.com. See below for a timeline of Schomburg's life: 1874, January 24 Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Carlos Federico Schomburg and Mary Joseph.

islands became possessions of the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898, these The violent response to the protests has thrown a harsh light on the city's budget priorities.

Schomburg died of complications from dental surgery in 1938. initially accepted by American blacks, who to this point did not have a lot of experience with

She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and currently resides in London. Schomburg was present at the meeting when the Cuban Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Cubano) was founded by José Marti. Sign up to best of business news, informed analysis and opinions on what matters to you. Bessie died in 1900. Connecting the Black and LatinX communities through research and love for the Black diaspora, opening the door and advancing the study of Black history, Arturo Schomburg is more than deserving of being recognized with an MTA station renaming in Harlem.

became so massive that it outgrew the space in the apartment that he and his wife shared. For the first time it brought together African, African-Caribbean and African-American scholars.

Wilfredo is a candidate for New York City Council in the 42nd District in his East New York neighborhood, where he lives with his husband, daughters and dog. Schomburg was later to become the President of the American Negro Academy, founded in Washington, DC in 1874, which championed Black history and literature. Meet Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

and Rising Sun Chapter Number 4, R.A.M. 1874, January 24 Arturo Alfonso Schomburg is born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Carlos Federico Schomburg and Mary Joseph.

published his influential and widely distributed essay “The Negro Digs Up His Past”. Between 1931 and 1932 Schomburg served as Curator of the Black Collection at the library of Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, helping direct their acquisition of materials.

Shannen Dee Williams, American Magazine On Nov. 11, the Catholic Church lost a…, By Meserette Kentake, Kentake Page “I early conceived a liking for, and sought every…, Source: New York Public Radio “If you can’t dance with your neighbors, you live in…, P.O.

Schomburg was born Jan. 24.
In 1916 Schomburg published what was the first notable bibliography of African-American poetry, A Bibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetry. Her special "love" interest is the Maafa/Atlantic slavery. He developed a keen interest in the novels, news reports and political discussions that he would read to them. */, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

I have restored that which was in ruins. The vision is to bring together history, literature, and art under one cyber-umbrella, to make Black/Afrikan historical, literary, and artistic achievements universally accessible.

He began what became extensive research on this subject, collecting documents, © 2020 Kentake Page. Although Schomburg had attended school in Puerto Rico, he lacked any official records, preventing him from continuing his education.

Schomburg’s Family. All Right Reserved.

His mother was a Black midwife; his father was a first-generation Puerto Rican of German descent. Elmhurst’s elected officials voiced support for transit investment at a town hall hosted by Congressman Joe Crowley and Council Member Daniel Dromm last night. Arthur (originally Arturo) Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938) was a collector of books and manuscripts documenting black history and culture whose collection formed the basis for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He was educated in commercial printing in Puerto Rico and then studied Negro literature at St.

white-washed and ignored the contributions of those of African descent by not mentioning. He knew that the official history taught was With letters of recommendations from the

for an appearance on BronxTalk, here's the news from a slow news day.

In 1926 the New York Public Library purchased his collection for $10,000 with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation.