Arturo Schomburg, son of a Black midwife and a German immigrant to Puerto Rico, was told by a grade school teacher that Black people had no heroes, no history and no accomplishments. This infuriated the young Arturo and he devoted his life to proving his teacher wrong.
At St. Thomas College in the Virgin Islands, he studied Black literature which paved the way for a career as a teacher, writer and historian. Arturo co-founded the The Negro Society for Historical Research, accumulating a collection of thousands of books, as well as other written material, tracing and celebrating Black literature, ideas, accounts and other works from African, West Indian, and Afro-American scholars. The collection eventually became the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. He was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance and helped spread its message and influence to African-American communities across the country. Arturo was also instrumental in the fight for Puerto Rico’s and Cuba’s independence from Spain.
Following dental surgery in 1938, Arturo fell ill and passed away in June of that year. He was 64.
His grade school teacher was wrong.