Schomburg, Arturo Alfonso, a self-described "Afroborinqueño " (Black Puerto Rican ), was born January 24, 1874, of María Josefa a freeborn Black midwife from St. Croix and Carlos Féderico Schomburg a mestizo merchant of German heritage in a community now known as Santurce , Puerto Rico.
Schomburg was educated at San Juan's Instituto Popular , where he learned commercial printing, and at St. Thomas College in the Danish-ruled Virgin Islands, where he studied Negro Literature. In the office of General Roger A. Pryor he read law for five years. He also served for five years as Secretary Las Dos Antillas Cuban Revolutionary Party, New York, 1891-6.
Schomburg immigrated to New York on April 17, 1891 where he continued amassing the materials needed to further untangle the African thread of history in the fabric of the Americas. In 1892 he became a mason joining the spanish-speaking El Sol de Cuba Lodge 38. On June 30, 1895 he married Elizabeth Hatcher, Staunton, Virginia and they had two children together, Arthur A. and Kingsley. He began teaching Spanish in New York in 1896. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Marrow Taylor of Williamsburg, North Carolina. They were married on March 17, 1902 and also had two children Reginald Stanfield and Nathaniel Jose Schomburg. From 1901 to 1906 Schomburg was employed as messenger and clerk in the law firm of Pryor, Mellis and Harris, New York City.
Schomburg's first known article, "Is Hayti Decadent?" is published during 1904 in "The Unique Advertiser." In 1906 he enters into the employ of the Bankers Trust Company. Eventually he becomes a supervisor of the Caribbean and Latin American Mail Section until he leaves in 1929. In 1909 he wrote "Placido, a Cuban Martyr," a pamphlet Gabriel de la Concepcion Valdez .
In the year 1911 he co-founded the Negro Society for Historical Research in Yonkers, New York with John Edward Bruce. He also served as that organization's Secretary and Treasurer. The society's purpose is to serve as an archival institute to publish important papers on black history. He acted as co-editor of the 1912 edition of Daniel Alexander Payne Murray's "Encyclopedia of the Colored Race". In 1914 he was inducted into, and later presided over, the American Negro Academy of Washington, D.C., which championed black history. Schomburg went on to direct acquisitions for Fisk University's Negro Collection, which he eventually curated. Schomburg married for the third and last time that year to Elizabeth Green. The marriage produced three children Fernando Alfonso, Dolores Maria and Carlos Placido.
Schomburg was Elected Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge in 1918. He wrote the essay "The Negro Digs Up His Past" which was published in the Survey Graphic of Harlem in March of 1925. The essay would later be included in the book "The New Negro" edited by Alain Locke. This essay was also influential on John Henrik Clarke to the point that at seventeen years of age he left his home in Columbus, Georgia to seek out Mr. Schomburg to further his studies in African history.
So impressed was the New York Library with Schomburg's collection of books, manuscripts, and prints that they bought it a $10,000 Carnegie Foundation grant. The collection was deposited at the 135th Street Branch in Harlem. The proceeds from the sale were used for his travel to Spain, France, Germany and England.
From 1931 to 1932 Arthur Schomburg served as Curator of the Negro Collection at the library of Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. Also during 1932 he traveled to Cuba. While there he met Cuban artists and writers, and acquired material for the collection. He became the curator of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature and Art, 135th Street Branch, The New York Public Library.
He was granted an honorary membership of the Men's Business Club in Yonkers, New York. He held the position of treasurer for the Loyal Sons of Africa in New York. He was also elevated being the past master of Prince Hall Lodge Number 38, F.A.M. and Rising Sun Chapter Number 4, R.A.M.
Schomburg began to suffer from an illness following dental surgery. He died in Madison Park Hospital , Brooklyn, New York on June 8, 1938 and was buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.
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Last updated: 08-07-2005 00:29:57
