History must restore what slavery took away
Arthuro Schomburg “The Negro Digs up His Past”
It was his quest to demonstrate that blacks did have a past and one to be proud of that caused Schomburg to travel to many places as well as to make contact with people that helped him create a great collection that proved how important is Africa’s contribution within the world historical events beyond just slavery.
Schomburg was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1874, a year after the abolition of poetry in this island. His mother was from St. Croix.
It is said that Schomburg’s vocation to restoring the African past came when he was a child in elementary school. There he was told that blacks had no past and Schomburg decided to prove this wrong.
As a young man he moved to New York. He first actively participated of organizations that promoted the independence of the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. He later became a member of the Prince Hall Masons and the rest of his life was mainly dedicated to collecting documents of the African and its diaspora experience. He also actively participated with his quest through his writing. He wrote numerous articles about the blacks’ contributions to shed a new light to the history of blacks that had been silenced throughout centuries. He also wanted the Afro-descendants to support each other and be proud of their historical past.
It was amazing to see how an autodidact person as Schomburg demonstrated his valuable knowledge that even established historians of the time were ignorant about or wished it to be erased from the collective memory.
Schomburg’s efforts throughout the years brought one of the greatest collections of black history of all times. By the time The New York Library purchased this valuable collection for $10, 000; it contained documents that are of great importance within the history of Africans and their descendants throughout the world.
Schomburg had accomplished what would have taken many people and more than a lifetime to obtain and he did so day by day to provide blacks with their historical past and guide them to a future of pride and self- identity.
His collection has continued growing. When Flor Pinero de Rivera published her book, she mentioned that this collection had over 100,000 books including rare volumes such as that of the poetry of Juan Latino which was published in 1573. It also had at that time more than 150,000 photographs. It has recordings of audio and music including those of Booker T. Washington (1900) and George Washington Carver (1939). It had microfilms of more than 400 newspapers. The Schomburg Center that began with Arturo Schomburg’s personal collection is having the African past alive in front of the eyes of those who visit the this library.
Arturo Schomburg’s contribution must not be forgotten. This outstanding man demonstrated how important has been African and its diaspora’s contribution in the development of the world history. He gave voice to those who had been silenced throughout the centuries. They now speak to all those interested in remembering the past that had been hidden by the shadow of slavery.
Bibliography
Hoffnung-Garskof. (2008). The Migrations of Arturo Schomburg: On Being Antillano, Negro, and Puerto Rican in New York 1891-1938. Journal of American Ethnic History, 3-49.
Holton, A. (n.d.). Decolonizing History: Arthur Schomburg's Afrodiasporic Archive. The Journal of African American History, 218-238.
Pinero de Rivera, F. (2008). Arturo Schomburg: Sus Escritos Anotados y Apendices. San Juan: Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.
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