By Schomburg Center\Joy L. Bivins
Photos: YouTube Screenhsots\Wikimedia Commons
Today, we mark an incredible anniversary: our founder Arturo Alfonso Schomburg’s 150th birthday. Born on this day in Puerto Rico in 1874, Arturo Schomburg was a scholar, historian, curator, and collector, who wondered as a child why African history wasn’t taught in the classroom. He made it his life’s work to collect evidence of Black people’s contributions to the Caribbean, the Americas, Europe, and Africa, becoming one of the world’s foremost collectors of Black literature, slave narratives, artwork, and other objects.
On the 150th anniversary of Arturo Schomburg’s birth, will you join us in our celebration? Make your first-ever contribution today, to celebrate Arturo Schomburg’s birthday. Your gift will honor his legacy and keep us going strong as we move further into the new year. For any gift of $50 or more, you’ll receive a limited-edition enamel pin you can wear to show your support for the Schomburg Center.
Mr. Schomburg’s initial collection of thousands of manuscripts and artifacts from Africa and the African diaspora forms the foundation of the Schomburg Center’s current collection of more than 11 million items that attest to the richness of Black history and culture. This foundational collection—along with Arturo Schomburg’s vision of preserving, sharing, and celebrating Black culture and history—continues to shape and guide much of the work we do here at the Schomburg Center.
Whether it’s our Junior Scholars program, or our annual Literary Festival and street fair, or numerous speaker events, book signings, and conversations that you won’t hear anywhere else, we welcome and nourish scholarship, community, and Black creativity that would make Arturo Schomburg proud.
Your support today allows you to take part in Arturo Schomburg’s 150-year-old legacy and contribute to all that we have planned for 2024. Please join us today and make your gift now—if you make a donation of $50 or more, you’ll also receive a limited-edition enamel pin.
We have so much planned for 2024: in addition to annual events like the Black Comic Book Festival and Women’s Jazz Festival, your contribution will help support new exhibitions, public programs, and add to our collections. Your gift will make all of this work possible.
Arturo Schomburg dedicated himself to bringing bring Black history and culture into the present. Today, we carry forward his work. In his honor, support the Schomburg Center and make your first-ever gift that will be shared with countless scholars and students of Black culture and history.
I look forward to another exciting year of celebrating Arturo Schomburg’s legacy here at the Schomburg Center with you.
Joy L. Bivins
Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
