The Schomburg: A Century of Black Brilliance
Reflections of Sonia Sanchez and Chester Higgins
BY FERN GILLESPIE
His ashes rest in the heart of Harlem. The final resting place of Harlem Renaissance Poet Laureate Langston Hughes is, fittingly, a book-shaped urn set beneath the terrazzo floor in the Langston Hughes Lobby of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In tribute to Hughes and to the center’s founder, Arturo A. Schomburg, the lobby floor features a cosmogram mural created by artist Houston Conwill. This spiritual map depicts river streams from the Congo to the Mississippi and honors Hughes’ masterpiece, The Negro Speaks of Rivers.
Acclaimed photographer Chester Higgins attended the February 1991 unveiling as the official photographer for The New York Times, where he served for over 40 years. His photographs documenting the lives and culture of people of African descent are held in museum collections worldwide and have been featured in Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Ebony, and Essence. His most recent photography book, Sacred Nile, chronicles his spiritual journeys along the Nile River.
At the unveiling, Higgins captured what would become a historic moment in Black cultural memory. “Inside, I think Toni Morrison and several other people were speaking. For me, photographically, it was just boring and it didn’t work. Then when we came out to the lobby, there was a jazz group the Schomburg had hired, playing within the Langston Hughes cosmogram,” Higgins told The Positive Community. “All of a sudden, Amiri Baraka left his wife and walked over to Maya Angelou, who was standing with some other people, and asked her to dance. That’s how it happened. It was very impromptu. I saw the elements in context with each other. I just moved with the rhythm to make it work.”
The resulting image—poets Maya Angelou and Amiri Baraka, close friends, dancing above Hughes’ resting place—has become one of the Schomburg’s most treasured artifacts. “When you think of Black culture in Harlem, you think of literature and you think of music,” Higgins reflected. “Their swinging captures a sense of both. You have literary icons swing dancing on top of the ashes of another great poet, someone whose shoulders they stood on in their careers. The Schomburg has always been a safe haven for those who want to study the history of Black people in this country and across the African diaspora. That dance was a very worthy moment in a very worthy place.”
In May 2025, the Schomburg launched its centennial celebration with 100: A Century of Collections, Community and Creativity. The year-long festivities include a major exhibition, a summer festival, special programming, book giveaways, and even a limited-edition library card. Among the highlights was a children’s book giveaway of Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library, which introduces young readers to Arturo Schomburg’s vision for building an archive. Other signature events include the Black Comic Book Festival and the Schomburg Literary Festival.
The Schomburg, now a division of the New York Public Library, traces its roots to the early 20th century through the efforts of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican of African descent. A passionate bibliophile and historian, he amassed more than 10,000 books, texts, and manuscripts documenting the African diaspora. In 1925, he helped establish the New York Public Library’s first Division of Negro Literature and History. By 1926, his personal collection became part of the NYPL system, and in 1932, he was officially appointed curator of the Division of Negro Literature and Art at the 135th Street Library.
For poet and scholar Sonia Sanchez, a visit to the Schomburg in 1954 proved life-changing. Then just 20 years old and fresh out of Hunter College, Sanchez—who would go on to become a pioneer of the Black Arts Movement—was introduced to the transformative power of Black literature by curator Jean Blackwell Hutson. “Nothing but men were around me at this long table in the Schomburg. Miss Hutson said, ‘Oh my dear, go sit down. I’m going to get you plenty of books.’ She brought me Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, and Booker T. Washington. As I read, I started to cry,” Sanchez recalled. “I remember asking her, ‘But how could I have a degree and never have come across these people?’ Miss Hutson used to tell that story about me coming to the Schomburg.”
By 1968, Sanchez was teaching at San Francisco State University, where she helped pioneer the first Black Studies curriculum at a predominantly white institution. In later years, she introduced courses in Black history, literature, and culture, including groundbreaking work on Black women writers at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Schomburg’s centennial exhibition, 100: A Century of Collections, Community and Creativity, showcases iconic works from its vast 11-million-item archive. Highlights include murals by Harlem Renaissance painter Aaron Douglas; the visitor book from the center’s 1925 opening, signed by Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Augusta Savage; and rare works by Romare Bearden, James Baldwin, James Van Der Zee, and many others. The exhibition is curated by Schomburg Director Joy Bivins, with an audio guide narrated by actor and producer LeVar Burton.
