Arturo Alfonso Schomburg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
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Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
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| Born | January 24, 1874 |
| Died | June 10, 1938 (aged 64) |
| Nationality | Puerto Rican |
| Movement | Harlem Renaissance |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Hatcher, m. 1895–1900 (until her death), Elizabeth Morrow Taylor, m. 1902–1938 (until her death), Elizabeth Green |
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Schomburg, also known as Arthur Schomburg, took an active role advocating Puerto Rico's independence.
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Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (born January 24, 1874 – died June 10, 1938) was a very important historian, writer, collector, and activist. He was from Puerto Rico and had both African and German family roots. In 1891, he moved to the United States. There, he worked hard to find and share information about the amazing things that Afro–Latin Americans and African Americans had done throughout history.
Schomburg was a key thinker during the Harlem Renaissance, a time when Black art and culture thrived. Over many years, he gathered books, art, stories from formerly enslaved people, and other items about African history. His amazing collection was later bought by the New York Public Library. It became the foundation of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, which is named after him.
Contents
Early Life and Inspiration
Arturo Schomburg was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. His mother, Mary Joseph, was a free Black midwife from Saint Croix. His father, Carlos Federico Schomburg, was a merchant whose family came from Germany.
When Arturo was in grade school, one of his teachers said that Black people had no history, no heroes, and no achievements. This made young Arturo very determined. He decided right then that he would spend his life finding and documenting the great accomplishments of African people, both in Africa and around the world.
He went to school in San Juan, where he learned about commercial printing. He also studied Black literature at St. Thomas College on the island of St. Thomas.
Fighting for Independence
Schomburg moved to New York City on April 17, 1891. He settled in the Harlem area of Manhattan. Before he became famous for preserving Black culture, he was very involved in groups that wanted Puerto Rico and Cuba to be free from Spain. He joined a community of Puerto Ricans and Cubans who were known for their strong political ideas.
In 1892, he joined the Freemasons, a brotherhood where he found support. His lodge, "El Sol de Cuba Lodge #38," was special because it did everything in Spanish. This lodge became a place where Latino people in New York could organize and work together.
After experiencing racism in the U.S., he started calling himself "Afro-borinqueño," meaning "Afro-Puerto Rican." He became a member of the "Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico." He actively supported Puerto Rico's and Cuba's independence from Spain. In 1892, Schomburg helped start a political club called Las Dos Antillas (The Two Islands). This club worked to get independence for Cuba and Puerto Rico. Members discussed how to provide weapons, medical supplies, and money to independence movements.
Family Life
On June 30, 1895, Schomburg married Elizabeth Hatcher. She had moved to New York from Staunton, Virginia, as part of the Great Migration. This was when many African Americans moved from the Southern U.S. to the North. Arturo and Elizabeth had three sons: Máximo Gómez, Arthur Alfonso Jr., and Kingsley Guarionex Schomburg. Máximo was named after a Dominican military leader who fought for Cuban independence. Kingsley's middle name came from a famous Taíno Indian chief.
After Elizabeth died in 1900, Schomburg married Elizabeth Morrow Taylor in 1902. They had two sons: Reginald Stanton and Nathaniel José Schomburg. Later, after Elizabeth Morrow Taylor passed away, Schomburg married Elizabeth Green, and they had three more children.
His Career and Writings
In 1896, Schomburg began teaching Spanish in New York. He also worked as a clerk and messenger for a law firm. Later, he worked for the Bankers Trust Company, where he became a supervisor. He stayed there until 1929.
While working to support his family, Schomburg also started his important work of writing about Caribbean and African-American history. His first known article, "Is Hayti Decadent?", was published in 1904. In 1909, he wrote a short book called Placido, a Cuban Martyr. It was about a poet and freedom fighter named Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés.
Building Historical Knowledge
In 1911, Schomburg helped create the Negro Society for Historical Research with John Edward Bruce. This group aimed to support scholarly work and brought together African, West Indian, and Afro-American scholars for the first time.
In 1914, Schomburg joined the American Negro Academy. This was a major African American learned society that started in 1897. Its goal was to challenge racist ideas, promote equality for Black people, and publish the true history of African American life. Schomburg served as its president from 1920 to 1928.
This was a time when many groups were forming to encourage the study of African-American history. In 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson helped start the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. This group began publishing Journal of Negro History.
Schomburg became very involved in the Harlem Renaissance. This movement saw a burst of art, intellectual ideas, and political activity among Black people in Harlem and other U.S. cities. In 1912, he helped edit an encyclopedia called Encyclopedia of the Colored Race.
In 1916, Schomburg published A Bibliographical Checklist of American Negro Poetry. This was the first important list of African-American poetry.
In March 1925, Schomburg published his famous essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past" in a magazine called Survey Graphic. This essay was widely read and had a big impact. In it, Schomburg wanted to create a strong intellectual argument against racism. The historian John Henrik Clarke said that this essay inspired him so much that he left home at age 17 to find Mr. Schomburg and learn more about African history.
The Schomburg Collection
In 1926, the New York Public Library bought Arturo Schomburg's personal collection for $10,000. This money came from the Carnegie Corporation. This purchase was the start of the 135th Street branch library becoming the famous Schomburg Center. His collection included many different items, even three missing chapters from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."
The library made Schomburg the curator of this collection, which was named the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art in his honor. It was later renamed the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
In 1929, the president of Fisk University, Charles S. Johnson, asked Schomburg to organize the Negro Collection at the Fisk library in Nashville, Tennessee. Schomburg helped design a new reading room there. By the time he left Fisk, he had grown the library's collection from 106 items to 4,600! In 1932, he traveled to Cuba. There, he met many Cuban artists and writers and found even more materials for his studies.
Later Years and Legacy
After having dental surgery, Schomburg became ill and passed away in Brooklyn, New York, on June 10, 1938. He is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery.
By the 1920s, Schomburg had gathered an amazing collection. It included artworks, handwritten papers, rare books, stories from formerly enslaved people, and other items about Black history. This collection became the main part of the Library's Division of Negro History at its 135th Street Branch in Harlem.
Schomburg used the money from selling his collection to travel to Spain, France, Germany, and England. He wanted to find even more pieces of Black history to add to the collection. In 2002, a scholar named Molefi Kete Asante included Schomburg on his list of the 100 Greatest African Americans.
To honor Schomburg, Hampshire College offers a special scholarship in his name. It gives $30,000 to students who show strong academic performance and leadership. The College of Arts and Sciences at University at Buffalo also has a fellowship named after him.
Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's work inspired many people, including Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and African Americans. During the Harlem Renaissance, writers like Zora Neale Hurston used materials from Schomburg's collection. Knowing about the great contributions of Afro-Latin Americans and African Americans helped future generations in the Civil Rights Movement.
In 2020, the United States Postal Service honored Schomburg by featuring him on a postage stamp as part of a series about the Harlem Renaissance.
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Arturo Alfonso Schomburg
