Growing up in the ethnic melting pot of Cleveland, Ohio, I was used to seeing festivals celebrating Italian, Hungarian, Polish, and many other ethnic cultures and traditions. The festivals took over whole streets where we walked to school. This was in the 1950's when we, as Black folks, didn't do much thinking or talking about our culture, much less celebrate it.
Because of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Nationalism, the whole Afrocentric dynamic over the last fifty years in America, many Blacks have long since gotten past the question of who we are. But, what we do with that knowledge when our heritage is questioned, or dismissed puts the ball in our court to respond.
How many of us have heard something like this even while growing up, "...your people don't have a history, culture, or traditions. You don't know who you are, or where you came from". As students, many of us heard such comments from white teachers. Many Blacks were encouraged to take some type of action in the face of these false claims, among them was Arturo Alfonso Schomburg,
founder of the world famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
Because of The Civil Rights Movement, Black Nationalism, the whole Afrocentric dynamic over the last fifty years in America, many Blacks have long since gotten past the question of who we are. But, what we do with that knowledge when our heritage is questioned, or dismissed puts the ball in our court to respond.
How many of us have heard something like this even while growing up, "...your people don't have a history, culture, or traditions. You don't know who you are, or where you came from". As students, many of us heard such comments from white teachers. Many Blacks were encouraged to take some type of action in the face of these false claims, among them was Arturo Alfonso Schomburg,
founder of the world famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.
Born in 1874 in Puerto Rico, Arturo Schomburg was told by one of his early teachers that blacks had no history, heroes or accomplishments. That inspired Schomburg to prove the
teacher wrong. He determined that he would find and document the
accomplishments of Africans on their own continent, and in the diaspora,
including Afro-Latinos, and African-Americans.
Schomburg was educated at San Juan's Instituto Popular, where he learned commercial printing, and studied literature in the Virgin Islands. After relocating to the United States, Schomburg became a historian, writer, and activist who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions of people of African descent. He was a prominent intellectual figure during the Harlem Renaissance.
By the 1920's Schomburg had aquired an impressive collection of art
and rare literature on Black History, which was purchased by the New York Public Library for it's Division of Negro History. Schomburg became the curator of the collection which, in his honor, was named the Schomburg Center for Reaearch in Black Culture.
If you've not had the opportunity to visit this repository of Black Culture, plan to do so if you get to New York. Of course, you can also visit the Schomburg online at, www.schomburgcenter.org.
I would also encourage readers to do what I did in my local research project into North Carolina Black History. I found a local Black Museum, the African American Cultural Complex in Raleigh, NC. I became a volunteer, and began my own Black History collection of not only art and liturature, but also experiences which have become the foundation for this blog.
How would you respond if someone questioned your acestors' legacy?
Schomburg was educated at San Juan's Instituto Popular, where he learned commercial printing, and studied literature in the Virgin Islands. After relocating to the United States, Schomburg became a historian, writer, and activist who researched and raised awareness of the great contributions of people of African descent. He was a prominent intellectual figure during the Harlem Renaissance.
By the 1920's Schomburg had aquired an impressive collection of art
and rare literature on Black History, which was purchased by the New York Public Library for it's Division of Negro History. Schomburg became the curator of the collection which, in his honor, was named the Schomburg Center for Reaearch in Black Culture.
If you've not had the opportunity to visit this repository of Black Culture, plan to do so if you get to New York. Of course, you can also visit the Schomburg online at, www.schomburgcenter.org.
I would also encourage readers to do what I did in my local research project into North Carolina Black History. I found a local Black Museum, the African American Cultural Complex in Raleigh, NC. I became a volunteer, and began my own Black History collection of not only art and liturature, but also experiences which have become the foundation for this blog.
How would you respond if someone questioned your acestors' legacy?
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