Membership Events

IN-PERSON Jonathan D. S. Schroeder, literary historian, recovered a first-person slave narrative written by John Swanson Jacobs buried in the archives in Austraila. Jacobs is described as "radical abolitionist, sailor, and miner,[who]has a life story that is as global as it is American." The brother of Harriet Jacobs, author of the widely known Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), was born into slavery then fled the U.S. The United States Governed by Six Hundred Thousand Despots contai…

IN-PERSON January 24 marks the anniversary of the birth of Afro-Puerto Rican scholar Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938), a writer, bibliophile, and historian dedicated to the collection and amplification of the artistic and academic work of people of African descent. Schomburg's seed collection to the Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints included more than 5,000 books; 3,000 manuscripts; 2,000 etchings and paintings; and several thousand pamphlets. Schomburg served as curator of t…

IN-PERSON Transcribe-a-thon | 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM | Aaron Douglas Reading Room Fisk University and the Schomburg Center have partnered to create a digital edition of the archival papers of Arturo Schomburg, the bibliophile who built two of the world’s most important collections on Black history—one in Harlem and another in Nashville. Join teams in each city to celebrate Schomburg’s 151st birthday by helping transcribe his newly digitized papers. We welcome all participants—no previous transcript…

IN-PERSON Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance in conversation with Melissa Noel, Essence Magazine. Harlem Rhapsody centers the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Jessie Redmond Fauset, the literary editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine (1919-1925) and mentor to writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and Claude McKay. In this work of historical fiction,…

ONLINE Join us online for the first Conversation in Black Freedom Studies program of 2025! Four life-long activists will discuss their lives in the movement and the process and politics of writing personal histories of Black freedom struggles. Millicent Brown will present on Another Sojourner Looking for Truth, illuminating her long life in the movement beyond her role in the desegregation of schools in South Carolina. Mike Africa, Jr., will discuss On A Move: Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing…

IN-PERSON The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture presents The Harlem Chamber Players’ 17th Annual Black History Month Celebration. Terrance McKnight will open with Big Timer’s Blues, featuring poetry by Langston Hughes with a traditional spiritual, followed by one of the evening's featured artists Candice Hoyes, performing Zora’s Moon for soprano with members of The Harlem Chamber Players. Featured artist, cellist-composer Akua Dixon, will make her Harlem premiere of We The People f…

IN PERSON Join panelists Jamal Joseph, Akemi Kochiyama, Tamara Payne, and Jaimee Swift for a conversation about the revolutionary friendship of Malcolm X and Yuri Kochiyama. Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Malcolm X's death, the discussion will focus on archives, truth-telling, and understanding the histories and possibilities of radical solidarities. This event is co-created by The New York Public Library's Center for Educators and Schools, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black…