Schomburg Center Marks 100 Years of Black Cultural Legacy \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture celebrated its centennial with a vibrant street festival in Harlem. The event merged its Black Comic Book Festival and Literary Festival to highlight Black history, art, and culture. Leaders aim to raise awareness of this vital institution as gentrification and political pushback threaten its mission.
Quick Looks
- Schomburg Center celebrates 100 years in Harlem
- Event merged Black Comic Book and Literary Festivals
- Exhibits include rare items from Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes
- Over 100 objects featured in new centennial collection
- LeVar Burton narrates the audio guide for new exhibition
- Festival featured panels, readings, cosplay, and kids’ programs
- Center’s legacy tied to founder Arturo Schomburg’s historic donation
- Junior Scholars Program empowers Black youth through education
- Critics say too many remain unaware of the Center’s importance
- Harlem gentrification and political climate pose new challenges
Deep Look
At the heart of Harlem’s cultural core, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture marked a century of documenting, preserving, and elevating the global Black experience. Celebrating its 100th anniversary with a full-day festival, the Center brought together literary icons, comic artists, community leaders, and hundreds of New Yorkers for a dynamic blend of scholarship, storytelling, and celebration.
Taking over 135th Street between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards, the festival merged two of the Center’s marquee events—the Black Comic Book Festival and the Schomburg Literary Festival—into a centennial tribute. Attendees engaged in workshops, author panels, children’s storytimes, cosplay, and a lively vendor marketplace that emphasized the vitality of Black creative expression.
Founded in 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, the Schomburg Center has grown into one of the largest and most respected repositories of Black culture in the world, housing over 11 million items. It is a vital branch of the New York Public Library system, accessible to the public, yet often underrecognized outside scholarly or artistic circles. The Center’s mission is more urgent than ever in an era increasingly hostile to race-conscious education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Joy Bivins, the Schomburg’s Director and curator of the centennial exhibition, has assembled more than 100 signature objects from the Center’s vast archives. Among the highlights: a visitor log from 1925–1940 signed by Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, materials from Fab 5 Freddy chronicling the dawn of hip-hop, and actor Ossie Davis’ annotated script of “Purlie Victorious.” Actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton lent his voice to the exhibit’s audio guide, adding another layer of accessibility and resonance.
“We’re constantly connecting the present to the past, always looking back to move forward,” said Novella Ford, the Center’s associate director for public programs. She emphasized the Center’s commitment to Black identity and Black aliveness as living, breathing lenses through which the world is interpreted.
Despite its legacy, many remain unaware of the Schomburg Center’s significance. Even Aysha Schomburg, great-granddaughter of founder Arturo Schomburg, recalls how her own mother—born and raised in Harlem—once walked past the building without knowing what lay behind its doors. “With every generation, we have to make sure we’re inviting people in,” she said. “This festival literally brings the Schomburg into the street.”
The Center’s roots trace back to Arturo Schomburg, an Afro-Latino historian who began collecting materials on the African diaspora after a teacher claimed Black people had no history. He sold his collection to the New York Public Library in 1926, creating the foundation of what would become today’s Schomburg Center.
Over the decades, under the leadership of pioneers like librarian Ernestine Rose and NYPL’s first Black librarian Catherine Latimer, the collection expanded beyond books to include rare manuscripts, audio recordings, films, photographs, and art. Today, the Center spans three buildings and hosts performances, screenings, and community discussions, making it not just an archive but a cultural living space.
Key to the Schomburg’s future is its Junior Scholars Program, a tuition-free initiative that empowers Black youth in grades 6 through 12. Participants explore themes of Black identity and cultural heritage through art, dance, media, and literature, culminating in multimedia presentations that reflect their learning. For many, it becomes a defining experience.
Damond Haynes, who once coordinated the program, described how the Center transforms from a seemingly distant “castle” into a place of self-discovery. “Kids are learning about themselves like Black history scholars,” he said. “They find identity within the program.” Many Junior Scholars go on to pursue careers aligned with the creative paths they explored during their time in the program.
The centennial celebration, while honoring a rich past, also served as a rallying cry for a more inclusive and informed future. In a Harlem being reshaped by gentrification, and a country grappling with ideological pushback against inclusive education, the Schomburg Center remains a cultural stronghold and a beacon for all who seek to understand the full breadth of the Black experience.
As poet Mahogany Browne put it, “The longevity the Schomburg has invested in preserving the traditions of Black literary arts is worth celebrating — especially as it exists in the canon of all the greats that came before.”
Schomburg Center Marks
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