Harlem's Schomburg Center prepares to open its exhibition celebrating 100 years

CBS News

06-05-2025

Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is celebrating 100 years of service to the community by displaying some of its more than 11 million pieces of African American history.
In just a few days, exhibition 100 - A Century of Collections, Community and Creativity will open to the public on Malcolm X Boulevard. One hundred years of collecting some of the world's most exquisite artifacts at the Schomburg Center have all led up to it.
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"This is who we are. This is who we have been for 100 years, and this exhibition really celebrates that," Schomburg Center Director Joy Bivins said. "So, there's a great deal of art, fine art, that's on display, not only in this gallery but in galleries throughout the building."
"They are icons of our collections"
For the first time ever, viewers can be up close and personal with murals by artist Aaron Douglas created specifically for the Schomburg Center.
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"They are icons of our collections, but they're also really important to the study of Black art history," Bivins said.
There are rooms filled with a fraction of the 11 million pieces of history housed at the library. Workers are still setting things up ahead of the opening.
The cosmogram at the Schomburg Center.
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The Schomburg Center is also introducing a commemorative 100 year library card featuring the cosmogram, a piece of art installed in the floor. Beneath the cosmogram is the grave of poet Langston Hughes.
"Within that cosmogram is the poem 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers.' And so this is really a way to take a piece of Schomburg with you," Bivins said.
Exhibit opens Thursday
The exhibit opens to the public May 8.
"We emerge from a moment when it's not thought that there is Black history, and all of these things stand in as evidence that that is a falsehood," Bivins said.
The research institute was started by Arturo Schomburg and Catherine Latimer. Latimer was the first Black woman hired by the New York Public Library.
The Schomburg Center is hosting a full schedule of events all year long in honor of its centennial. To learn more, click here.