Volume 4, #1 - New York Public Library

he Schomburg Center launched itsmost recent exhibition, The BuffaloSoldiers: The African-American Soldierin the U.S. Army, to a record crowd onFriday, November 14, with special

guests Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and AnthonyL. Powell. The exhibition,which explores thevictories and challenges of historic blackregiments in the late 1800s and early 1900s,features more than 200 documents, pho-tographs, and artifacts from the collectionsof Abdul-Jabbar and Powell and includes il-lustrations by Avel de Knight.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s collection, as-sembled over almost a decade, contains pho-tographs, documents, and artifacts from theera, and represents his life-long commit-ment to African-American history. Abdul-Jabbar’s interest in Buffalo Soldiers devel-oped while writing Black Profiles in Courage,his significant volume documenting theachievements of AfricanAmericans in histo-ry.Highlights fromhis collection include 9thand 10th Cavalry flags, a 9th Cavalry cam-paign hat, and a field kit containing person-al items such as a Bible, a family photo in acompass case, a pen, and other objects thatbelonged to Lt. George Washington Smith.The exhibition also features important doc-uments, including the U.S. Congressionallegislation creating the Buffalo Soldiers unitsin August 1866, a 9th Cavalry muster rollsigned by Col. Edward Hatch in 1873, and a10th Cavalry pay roster, signed by Col. Ben-

AFRICANA HERITAGEThe New York Pub l i c L ib ra ry • Vo lume 4, No . 1 , 2004 • Where Every Month Is B lack H is to ry Month

T H E S CHOMBURG C EN T E R FOR R E S E ARCH I N B L ACK CU LTUR E

PULL-OUT PROGRAM CALENDAR INSIDE

Because of enduring budget cuts, themonthly program calendar will beprinted quarterly and incorporatedinto the newsletter (see pull-out cal-endar between pages six and seven).

Continued on page 5

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony L. PowellJoin Schomburg Center for Opening of

The Buffalo Soldiers

In Motion: TheAfrican-American

Migration ExperienceTo Launch in 2004

Clockwise, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anthony L. Powell discuss The Buffalo Soldiers; Troop C, 9th U.S.

Cavalry, Tampa, Florida, 1898, from the collection of Anthony L. Powell; some of the more than 500 people

who attended the exhibition opening on November 14.

he New York Public Li-brary’s expanding digital li-brary is a further step to-ward its mission to provide

“free and open access to the accumulatedwisdom of the world.” Digital Schom-burg’s growing online resources reflect theCenter’s commitment to preserving andexpanding access to its collections throughthe use of digital technology. In the comingyear, the Schomburg is poised to expandits digital collections with In Motion: TheAfrican-American MigrationExperience, an extraordinaryWeb site ex-ploring the conditions that led to forcedand voluntary migration of African peo-ples to, within, and out of the UnitedStates, as well as investigating the effects ofthe migrations on the communities thatreceived them. The site will include 16,500pages of texts (books, book chapters, arti-

Women from Guadeloupe at Ellis Island

Continued on page 8

T

T

2 Africana Heritage • Volume 4, No. 1, 2004 • Where Every Month Is Black History Month

FROM THE CHIEF

Americans are at war. So are African Americans. This hasbeen the case since the American Revolution. Everytime that America has needed people to depend on andadvance its interests, African Americans have beenthere—as soldiers and as patriotic citizens.When

America’s cause has been just, no citizens have been more loyal pa-triots than African Americans.When the cause has been unclear orclearly unjust, African Americans have felt it their patriotic duty toquestion America’s mission and at times protest American partici-pation in seemingly unjust wars.

In the past, African Americans have celebrated the courage,commitment, and valor of their “sable heroes.”We are familiar withsome of those heroes—the 55th Massachusetts Regiment duringthe Civil War, the Harlem Hellfighters inWorldWar I, and theTuskegee Airmen inWorldWar II, to mention just a few. And, ofcourse, there are the Buffalo Soldiers. No group of brave, heroicAfrican-American military men lived more contradictory lives inthe American military than the Buffalo Soldiers. Participants inAmerica’s expansionist wars in the AmericanWest, Cuba, and thePhilippines, they were nevertheless the very symbol of black man-

hood in African America and bridges to a better life for AfricanAmericans in the segregationist era.

Based on the collections of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and AnthonyL. Powell, with illustrations by Avel de Knight, The Buffalo Soldiers:The African-American Soldier in the U.S. Army offers African Amer-icans inside and outside the American military an opportunity toponder the present moment against the backdrop of some of themost contradictory periods and experiences in African-Americanmilitary history. The exhibit is on view at the Center through Feb-ruary 29, 2004, and should not be missed.

Those of you who didn’t participate in the Rites of Ancestral Re-turn ceremonies from September 31 through October 4 missedsome of the most moving, significant, and memorable historical ex-periences in African-American history. The opportunity to partici-pate in and witness the reburial of 419 eighteenth-century enslavedAfrican ancestral remains was unprecedented. Tens of thousands ofpeople did participate—inWashington, Baltimore,Wilmington,Philadelphia, Newark, and, of course, New York City. The com-memorative events were dignified and respectful—celebrations ofthe triumphs of the ancestors over slavery and its adversities.Speakers, artists, performers, and spiritual leaders were joined bybroad cross-sections of the African-American community and gov-ernment officials to pay homage to the ancestors from NewYork’sAfrican Burial Ground as well as the pioneer colonial African popu-

lations of their cities. Joining spiritual and religious leaders from adiversity of African and African diasporan religious traditions inthe final tribute were Maya Angelou, Avery Brooks, Delroy Lindo,Cicely Tyson, Phylicia Rashad, Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Alvin Ai-ley Dancers, the Boys and Girls Choirs of Harlem,members of theAfrican and Caribbean diplomatic corps, and thousands of cele-brants from throughout NewYork, the United States, Africa, andthe African Diaspora. The African Burial GroundMemorial Site inLower Manhattan has been designated a national landmark and isdestined to become an international monument to enslaved Africanancestors everywhere. The site is now open to the public. Startplanning your annual pilgrimage and send your family and friends.

Sankofa, an African Adinkra symbol, is the unofficial logo ofthe African Burial Ground Project. It means, roughly, “return to thepast to make the future.” The Schomburg Center has taken this slo-gan to heart as it works to make resources available to a wider pub-lic. The Schomburg Center’sWeb site is the most heavily usedWebsite in The NewYork Public Library’s online environment. In addi-tion to information about the Center’s collections, services, andprograms, users from around the world are able to view online ex-

hibitions on African diaspo-ran themes and access fulltext, electronic versions of se-lect collection materials. LestWe Forget: The Triumph OverSlavery, an online version ofthe Center’s 75th AnniversaryExhibition (and an electroniccompanion to the book Ju-bilee: The Emergence ofAfrican-American Culture) is

slated for release in early 2004. So are the first four chapters of aunique thirteen chapter online survey of African America. EntitledIn Motion: The African-American Migration Experience, this twenty-first century look at the past promises to present startlingly newfacts and perspectives on the evolution of the African-American ex-perience. Each chapter will feature some 100 captioned images, anarrative text, and a selection of historic documents and texts thatare used to tell the story of African Americans’ voluntary and invol-untary migrations to, within, and out of the United States over thelast nearly 500 years. Look for it on ourWeb site(www.schomburgcenter.org) beginning in February 2004, BlackHistory Month. In Motion was funded by the Congressional BlackCaucus through the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

Let me close by again thanking each and every one of you foryour ongoing support.Without it, none of this would be possible. Aspecial word of thanks to everyone who contributed in whateverway they could to help us give the ancestors the dignified and re-spectful reburial they deserved. If you haven’t got a copy yet, be sureto look for Jubilee in your local bookstore. It was selected by Pub-lishersWeekly as one of its top eight illustrated books of 2003 andby Black Issues Book Review as its most remarkable illustrated bookof 2003. Look for Standing in the Need of Prayer too. A new Schom-burg Center publication, it is a perfect holiday or Black HistoryMonth gift.

Speakers, artists, performers, and spiritual leaders were joinedby broad cross-sections of the African-American community andgovernment officials to pay homage to the ancestors during thefive-day Rites of Ancestral Return commemorative ceremony.

– Howard Dodson, Schomburg Chief

Africana Heritage • Volume 4, No. 1, 2004 • Where Every Month Is Black History Month 3

OOnnee tthhrreeee cceennttuurriieess rreemmoovveeddFFrroomm tthhee sscceenneess hhiiss ffaatthheerrss lloovveeddSSppiiccyy ggrroovvee aanndd bbaannyyaann ttrreeee,,WWhhaatt iiss AAffrriiccaa ttoo mmee??

——CCoouunntteeee CCuulllleenn,, ““HHeerriittaaggee”” ((11992255))

In this poem, the acclaimed poet of theHarlem Renaissance of the 1920s,Countee Cullen, poses the question ofthe meaning of Africa for the descen-dants of the African Diaspora. In-

evitably, this discussion also involves themeaning of history, memory, and as thepoem’s title indicates, the heritage ofAfrican-American communities. My workas a literary scholar attempts to illuminatethe complex relationships between African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Africanwriters as they engage in dialogues about theplace of Africa in their respective imagina-tions. As Cullen’s poem suggests, these dia-logues have to confront the displacementwrought by slavery and the Middle Passage.They also provide a unique opportunity toexplore the tensions between understand-ings of race, nationalism, and diaspora intwentieth-century literature.

Although there is a great interest in theconcept of diaspora in the academic com-munity, partly popularized by Paul Gilroy’snotion of a black Atlantic, the place of Africawithin these discussions receives little atten-tion. Even as scholars take a broader per-spective and investigate cross-cultural influ-ences across national boundaries, too oftenthey neglect the rich and conflicted strandsof discourse about Africa that have beencentral to discussions of black identity sincethe mid-nineteenth century. My projectlooks at literary representations of Africa bywestern writers as well as responses byAfrican writers to analyze the place of Africa

within the new black Atlantic. Literature hasa special place in these discussions, function-ing as a site where social conflicts can be de-bated and resolved. Nineteenth-centuryracism contended that Africa and its descen-dants had no culture. In response writersand artists sought to prove the opposite withthe belief that such an act of cultural vindi-cation was not only necessary for debatesover culture but crucially tied to the destinyof the race. As Arthur Schomburg put it inhis contribution to the signature 1925 an-thology, The New Negro, “the American Ne-gro must remake his past in order to makehis future.”

In this spirit, I turn to the late nine-teenth century to explore the fiction of racialuplift in relation to projects of emigration toAfrica. I begin with the contention thatback-to-Africa movements of the nine-teenth century inaugurate a racial logic thatties the destinies of African Americans to thefate of Africa. Each chapter of my book pro-ject analyzes subsequent formulations ofblack identity that negotiate this implicitlogic. Such writers as Pauline Hopkins, Sut-

ton Griggs, W. E. B. Du Bois, and RichardWright offer compelling and deeply ambiva-lent meditations on Africa and its placewithin their anti-racist work in the UnitedStates. In response, such African writers as J.E. Casely Hayford, Attoh Ahuma, KwameNkrumah, Peter Abrahams, and Ama AtaAidoo create their own understanding ofAfrican pasts and presents, weaving a richconversational thread about the meaning ofnationalism and diaspora in global blackcultures.

As a Scholar-in-Residence at theSchomburg Center, I have a unique oppor-tunity to make progress on my book, usingthe vast resources of the library. The pro-gram’s seminars and colloquia enable ani-mated conversations across such varied dis-ciplines as history, music, sociology, law,literature, and philosophy. In order to tracelinks between various black intellectuals, Iturn to the library’s holdings of their papers:correspondence, book reviews, editorials,and more. I also turn to the actual records ofthe African repatriation societies, such as theAmerican Colonization Society and MarcusGarvey’s United Negro Improvement Asso-ciation. These records comprise an unexam-ined resource for ethnographic, evangelical,and commercial discourse on Africa. Ana-lyzing reports of annual meetings, lettersfrom repatriated slaves, reports on the stateof affairs in Liberia, and speeches by emigra-tionist advocates such as Edward Blyden inThe African Repository helps me to combinethe methods of historical inquiry and liter-ary analysis. The Center’s holdings of rare,out-of-print texts have been immeasurablybeneficial in expanding my understandingof black nationalist fiction. Reading such fic-tion in relation to white supremacist tracts(that are also thankfully out of print), I at-tempt to revive the history of antagonism towhite supremacy, and draw attention to thesearch for alternatives, many of which aretoo easily dismissed as separatism, withoutan adequate consideration of the complexstructures of feeling that make up such so-called separatist impulses.

Yogita Goyal is an Assistant Professorof English at UCLA. She recently completedher dissertation at Brown University, titled“Diasporic Nationalisms, Nationalist Dias-poras: Theorizing Race in the Black At-lantic.” She is a Schomburg Center Scholar-in-Residence for 2003-2004.

NOTES FROM A SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE

The Schomburg Center Scholars-in-Residence Program assists post-doctoral scholars and professionals whoseresearch in the black experience canbenefit from extended access to theCenter’s resources. Fellowships funded bythe Center allow recipients to spend sixmonths or a year in residence with accessto resources at the Schomburg Center andother centers of The New York PublicLibrary. It encompasses projects in African,Afro-American, and Afro-Caribbean

history and culture. The next applicationperiod is for 2005-2006 fellowships. Seethe Center’s Web site(www.schomburgcenter.org) forinformation.

Africana Heritage is pleased tofeature a series of articles based on currentscholars’ research in the upcomingvolumes of the newsletter. Yogita Goyalcontributes the first article in this seriesspotlighting work by Schomburg CenterScholars-in-Residence.

BY YOGITA GOYAL

frican Americans havefought in all of Ameri-ca’s wars from the Rev-olutionary War to thewar in Iraq. But it wasnot until after the CivilWar, in which morethan 200,000 AfricanAmericans served, that

black soldiers were included in the regularpeacetime army of the United States.

So impressed were American militarycommanders by the bravery and valor ofthe Union’s black soldiers that in July of1866 the first black post-Civil War regi-ments came into existence by an Act ofCongress, approved by President AndrewJohnson. By April 1867, six regiments ofAfrican-American soldiers were recruitedinto the regular peacetime army. Manywere veteran United States Colored Troopsfrom the Civil War and newly freed slaveswho wanted to serve their country. Orga-nized as the 9th and 10th U.S. cavalries andthe 38th through 41st infantries, each regi-ment consisted of approximately 1,000men. In 1869 the infantry regiments wereconsolidated into two, the 24th and 25th.All four regiments—two of cavalry and twoof infantry—were sent to the WesternFrontier to fight in the Indian wars.

In the winter of 1867–68, the newlyformed 9th and 10th U.S. cavalries were en-gaged in General Philip Sheridan’s cam-paign against the Comanche, Kiowa, andCheyenne peoples in Texas and the westernOklahoma territory. In the cold, harsh win-ters, the black soldiers wore coats made ofbuffalo hides. With the appearance of thecoats and their own tightly curled hair, theNative Americans called them the BuffaloSoldiers. According to legend, the fightingspirit of the black soldiers reminded theNative American of the bison, and the sol-diers accepted the name as a term of honor

and respect. Years later, when a design forthe regimental coat of arms was being pre-pared, the buffalo was adopted as a crest,and “Ready and Forward” became its mot-to.

Their duties were not limited to fight-ing. Known historically too as “guardianangels,” the Buffalo Soldiers protectedfrontier towns and farms, wagon trains,stagecoaches, and pony express riders.Guarding railroad work crews and cattleherds, the black troops also built and re-

paired frontier forts and outposts. String-ing hundreds of miles of telegraph lines,they explored and mapped vast areas of thesouthwest and helped develop the early na-tional parks. In garrison, the Buffalo Sol-diers drilled, stood guard, and maintainedhorses, weapons, and equipment. Servingfifty-nine forts of the Old West, the blackregiments developed into four of the mostdistinguished fighting units in the Armyduring the remainder of the nineteenthcentury. Though completely overlooked in


H E R I TA G EWATCH

Charles Young, 1889Third African Americangraduate of West Point. Hisfirst assignment aftergraduation was with theBuffalo Soldiers in the 10thCavalry in Nebraska.

Troopers of the 10th Cavalry, Montana, 1906

Colored Troops at FortGrant, Arizona, 1898

Immediately after the Cubacampaign, the 9th Cavalrysailed to Montauk Point,

New York, for a short periodof rest and recuperation. On

September 27, 1898, theregiment broke camp anddeparted for their new sta-tion, Fort Grant, Arizona—

the first stop on their way tothe Philippines.

The Buffalo SoldiersTHE AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOLDIER IN THE U.S. ARMY

AN E XH I B I T I O N S N AP SHO T

A

Collection of Anthony L. Powell

Collection of Anthony L. Powell

Hollywood’s glamorization of the cavalry-to-the-rescue, black soldiers made up over40 percent of the cavalry engaged in the In-dian wars, fighting in 85 percent of the In-dian battles. In addition, the units were en-gaged in military campaigns in Cuba andthe Philippines during the Spanish Ameri-can War (1898).

In 1903, the Buffalo Soldiers served asa presidential escort during President Roo-sevelt’s visit to San Francisco—the firsttime black soldiers were assigned to protect

an American president. The Buffalo Sol-diers also patrolled and helped develop theYosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon Na-tional Parks. In 1916, when Pancho Villacrossed the border and invaded New Mexi-co, the 24th and 25th infantries and the10th Cavalry were sent to the border to as-sist Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing in his pur-suit of the Mexican general. Between 1866and 1912, twenty-three black soldiers wonthe Medal of Honor, the nation’s highestmilitary award.


jamin Grierson in 1872. Complementing anineteenth-century Buffalo Soldiers saddleare authentic period uniforms.

Powell’s collection includes sixty-fivephotographs, primarily from the personalalbums and collections of Powell’s grandfa-ther, First Sergeant Samuel N. Waller, anAfrican-American soldier and photographerwho served almost forty years in the U.S.Army. Waller photographed black soldiers atthe turn of the century, and the images aremoving portraits of the significant serviceand sacrifices of black soldiers on the West-ern Frontier.

The Avel de Knight illustrations in TheBuffalo Soldiers, produced between 1969 and1974, include twenty-two pen, ink, and ink-wash drawings, based on the book Army Lifein a Black Regiment, written in 1870 by NewEngland abolitionist Thomas WentworthHigginson. The book is an account of Hig-ginson’s seventeen-month experience as thewhite commander of the Union’s first regi-ment of emancipated slaves during the CivilWar. De Knight’s goal was to express theessence of the book as defined in its closingwords: “Till the blacks were armed, there wasno guarantee of their freedom. It was theirdemeanor under arms that shamed the na-tion into recognizing them as men.”

The Buffalo Soldiers: The African-Amer-ican Soldier in the U.S. Army is on viewthrough February 29, 2004. Exhibitionhours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Anexhibition preview appears at left.

Lt. George Washington Smith’s Personal Travel Valise, ca. 1881Contains telescope, boxed compass, boot hooks, spurs, shavingmirror, pen, ink bottle, razor, first aid bottle, and Bible. Lt.Smith and four enlisted men were killed when their 9th U.S.Cavalry unit was overrun by a raid led by Apache leader Nana,near Fort Bayard (New Mexico).

John T. Glass, Scout, ca. 1885

Rifle Team Photo, ca. 1885

SSaaddddllee,, ccaa.. 11888855

Buffalo Soldiers, continued from page 1

Collection of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar






A R O U N D T H ESCHOMBURG C EN T E R

Coretta Scott Kingcelebrated the

publication of Standingin the Need of Prayer: A

Celebration of BlackPrayer at a Center booksigning in October. King

wrote the foreword tothe volume, which waspublished last year bythe Schomburg Center

and Free Press.

Contributors Howard Dodson, Chester Higgins, Jr., Robert A. Sengstacke,Gilberto Wilson, and Bob Gore signed copies of Standing in the Need of Prayer.

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegaladdresses The New York Conference on the

Contribution of Diasporan Intellectuals to theAfrican Union and the New Partnership for

Africa's Development (NEPAD), withtranslation by Djibril Diallo, Director of

Communications, UNDP.

Sir Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor of the University ofthe West Indies, with Amadou Bocoum, Consul Generalof Senegal, New York, and Senegal's Minister of ForeignAffairs, Dr. Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, at the African UnionConference reception in September.

Consul General of Angola, New York, Dr. JuliaMachado (right) chats with guests at theAfrican Union reception. The Consulate heldits 2003 Angola National Day Celebration atthe Schomburg Center in November.

South African PresidentTabo Mbeki with DumileFeni’s daughter,Marriam Morris, at aSchomburg Centerreception honoringHistory, a sculpture byFeni. History was onview at the Centerthrough Decemberbefore traveling toSouth Africa for itspermanent unveiling atthe Constitutional Courtin Johannesburg.

The Honorable PercySutton and

Congressman CharlesRangel. Sutton was

honored with a JamesWeldon Johnson Medal

for HumanitarianAchievement at the

thirteenth annual JamesWeldon Johnson Award

Ceremony.


New York City welcomed the ancestors with an arrival ceremony at Wall Streeton October 3, 2003. Here, the pouring of libation by Dr. Kofi Asare Opoku.

Ancestors in 419 hand-carved caskets traveled up Broadway by horse-drawn carriagesfrom Wall Street to the African Burial Ground Memorial site in Lower Manhattan. Theancestors were reinterred after a twenty-two-hour vigil and all-day memorial.

After a grandprocession upBroadway, four coffinswere transported byflower car, with policeescort, on a six-hour,eighty-four-mile, five-borough tour for tributesat the Sandy GroundHistorical Society inStaten Island (belowright); the WeeksvilleSociety in Brooklyn (notshown); Christ Churchin the Bronx; andMartin’s Field (a NewYork City park and siteof a nineteenth-century“colored cemetery” forAfrican Americans andNative Americans).After the tour, thecoffins joined the 415caskets in LowerManhattan (above right)and were buried at theAfrican Burial GroundMemorial Site onSaturday, October 4,2003.

In September and October, the Schomburg Center and the U.S. General Services Administration organized a six-day ceremony honoringancestors of the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. Events celebrating the ancestors took place in Washington, D.C., Baltimore,Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey, and New York City.

Rites of Ancestral Return: Commemorating the Colonial African Heritage, September 30 – October 4, 2003


cles, and manuscripts), 8,300 images, andan educational component with ten to fif-teen lesson plans by teachers for each of thethirteen migrations. An informationaloverview of the site follows. Look for it on-line in the Fall of 2004.

In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience

A PREVIEW

African Americans, more thanany other populations in theAmericas, have been shapedby migrations. Their cultureand history are the products

of black peoples’ various movements, co-erced and voluntary, which started in theWestern Hemisphere 500 years ago. Theirs isthe story of men and women forced out ofAfrica; of enslaved people moved from thecoastal southeast to the Deep South; of fugi-tives walking to freedom across the countryand beyond; of colonists leaving their landto settle on foreign shores; of southernersmigrating west and north; and of immi-grants arriving from the Caribbean, SouthAmerica, and Africa.Although the Atlantic slave trade has cre-

ated an enduring image of black people astransported commodities, and is usuallyconsidered the single element in the con-struction of the African Diaspora, it is cen-turies of additional migrations that have giv-en shape to the nation we know today, anation different from that forged solely bythe dreadful transportation of Africansagainst their will. And it is this vast array ofmigrations that truly defines the African-

American experience. Always on the move,resourceful, and creative, men and womenof African origin have been risk-takers inan exploitative and hostile environment.Their survival skills, efficient networks, anddynamic culture have enabled them tothrive and spread, and to be at the very coreof the settling and development of theAmericas. Their migrations have changednot only their world and the fabric of theAfrican diaspora but also their nation andthe Western Hemisphere.Between 1492 and 1776, an estimated 6.5

million people migrated to the Americas.More than five out of six were Africans. Themajor colonial labor force, they laid the eco-nomic and cultural foundations of the con-tinents. Their migrations continued duringand after slavery. In the United States alone,6.5 million African Americans left the Southfor northern and western cities between1916 and 1970. With this internal Great Mi-gration, the most massive in the history ofthe country, African Americans stopped be-ing a southern, rural community to become

a national, urban population.The men and women of the Great Migra-

tion not only transformed the cities they set-tled in, but their neighborhoods became pri-mary destinations for black people arrivingfrom the Caribbean, Africa, and SouthAmerica. These immigrants often retainedtheir national and ethnic identities andbrought new resources into the African-American community. With each wave ofmigration, changes in the demographic, cul-tural, religious, economic, and political lifeof the recipient communities occurred, andthe nation’s development has been inextrica-bly linked with these movements.At the same time, from the earliest days,

thousands of African Americans have lefttheir country when it became apparent thatthey would not find at home the freedomand equality they aspired to. Their quest forliberty and better opportunities took themto Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, andAfrica. African-American out-migration hasnow become insignificant, but black popularculture, created out of the diverse influencesbrought about by centuries of movement,resonates throughout the world in an un-precedented cultural migration.Today’s 35 million African Americans are

heirs to all the migrations that have formed,modeled, and transformed their communi-

H E R I TA G EWATCHRight, Family Migration,

1910. A family from the

rural South arrives in

Chicago to look for new

economic opportunities.

Bottom Right, African-

American cowboys with

their mounts saddled

up, posed in connection

with a fair, Bohnam,

Texas, in the interest of

interracial relations.

COMING SPRING 2004!

LLeesstt WWee FFoorrggeett:: TThhee TTrriiuummpphh OOvveerr SSllaavveerryy

Based on recent scholarship, this Web exhibition acknowledges the oppression,exploitation, and victimization that characterized the transatlantic slave tradeand 400 years of slavery in the Americas. But its emphasis is on the way in

which African peoples throughout the Americas invented themselves and createdtheir diverse language, religions, and families, as well as forms of social, political, eco-nomic, and cultural organization. Drawing on rich and diverse collections, and fea-turing more than 250 images, this comprehensive digital collection makes availableresources to assist the public in understanding these extraordinary processes.

Migration, continued from page 1


ty, the country, and the African diaspora.They are the offspring of diverse African eth-nicities who also include, in their geneticmakeup, Europeans, Native Americans, andAsians. They represent the most diverse pop-ulation in the nation—a population that hasembraced its varied heritage built by mil-lions of men and women constantly on themove, looking for better opportunities,starting over, paving the way, and makingsacrifices for future generations.

IN MOTION

The African-American migration experi-ence revolves around three dominant migra-tion patterns that span four centuries.The first concerns migration to the Unit-

ed States. It was launched by the Atlanticslave trade that deported an estimated 12million men, women, and children—about450,000 arrived in North America—andcontinued through the centuries with thevoluntary migration of people from theCaribbean, South America, and Africa.The second pattern that profoundly

shaped the cultural, social, and political lifeof this country is the migration of people ofAfrican descent within its own borders.Some, like the fugitive slaves and the menand women who left the South to go westand north during the nineteenth and twenti-

eth centuries, moved by choice. But others,victims of the domestic slave trade of the1800s, were forcibly removed from theirbirthplace and separated from their lovedones to settle the Deep South. Since the1970s, a new phenomenon has emerged,with increasing numbers of people migrat-ing from the North and West to the South, ina sort of reverse migration.The third trend is the out-migration of

African Americans in search of freedom, oropportunities they thought they could notfind in their own country. They were fugi-tives escaping to Canada, Mexico, and theCaribbean and free people settling in Haiti,Mexico, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.These movements, which transformed

the black community and the nation, alwaysoverlapped, and a southern city in, say, 1850could be the center of several migration ex-periences. A particular neighborhood mightbe home to men and women born in Africa;American-born fugitives from the ruralplantations passing for free or planning theirescape to Canada; Haitian immigrants hav-ing fled the Revolution; people from thesoutheast sold “down the river” to the DeepSouth; free men and women preparing theiremigration to Mexico, Liberia, Haiti, or thenorthern states. Today, a typical northern or western city

will count descendants of fugitive slaves andfree people; the offspring of black men andwomen from all over the world who migrat-ed in the nineteenth century; southern mi-grants who arrived from Alabama, Missis-sippi, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, orLouisiana during the Great Migration(1916-1930) or the Second Great Migration(1940-1970); Caribbeans from English-,French-, and Spanish-speaking nations whomade their way in the early 1900s or after theImmigration Act of 1965; Africans fromevery part of the continent who immigratedin the past twenty years; and elderly folksand young professionals planning their re-turn or their move South. Then and now, the interaction between

peoples of varied origins, cultures, lan-guages, religions, and migratory experiencehas produced a unique population whosefaces, music, food, institutions, styles,clothes, literature, crafts, and sense of iden-tity all reflect the fertile diversity broughtabout by centuries of African-Americanmigrations.

In Motion: The African-American Mi-gration Experience is made possible by thesupport of the Congressional Black Caucusthrough a grant administered by the Instituteof Museum and Library Services.

Description of a Slave Ship, 1789. Engraving of cross section of the slave ship Brookes, based in Liverpool.

Benguela/ Angola/ Congo/ Monjolo. Artist: Johann Moritz Rugendas. Lithograph: Pierre-Roch Vigneron.

Published in Voyage pittoresque dans le Bresil, Paris, ca. 1835.

The Thirteen African-American Migrations

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade

• The Migrations of Fugitives

• The Domestic Slave Trade

• Colonization/Emigration

• The Haitian Immigration: 18th – 19th Centuries

• The Western Migration

• The Northern Migration

• The Great Migration

• The Second Great Migration

• The Caribbean Immigration

• The Return South

• The Haitian Immigration: 20th Century

• The African Immigration


N EW FROM THE SCHOMBURG CENTER

SSttaannddiinngg iinn tthhee NNeeeedd ooff PPrraayyeerrAA CCeelleebbrraattiioonn ooff BBllaacckk PPrraayyeerrForeword by Coretta Scott KingThe Free Press, $27.50, 224 pp.

From the darkest days on slave ships to themost defiant moments of the Civil RightsMovement, prayer, more than any aspect ofreligion, has embodied the most intense ex-pression of traditional African and African-American spirituality. In this one-of-a-kind

volume, strikingphotographs and in-spiring prayersdrawn primarilyfrom the unparal-leled collections ofthe Schomburg Cen-ter span the broadspectrum of reli-gious traditions dur-ing the nineteenthand twentieth cen-

turies. Reflecting themes relevant to theblack experience—including struggle, tri-umph, worship, family, and community—Standing in the Need of Prayer features ex-amples from diverse religious traditions,including Islam, Christianity, Yoruba, andVodou. The book also includes prayersfrom some of history’s most powerful voic-es, among them W.E.B. Du Bois, JamesBaldwin, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

JJuubbiilleeee: TThhee EEmmeerrggeennccee ooff AAffrriiccaann--AAmmeerriiccaann CCuullttuurreeHoward Dodson,Amiri Baraka,John HopeFranklin, GailBuckley, HenryLouis Gates, Jr.,Annette Gor-don-Reed, andGayraud S.WilmoreNational Geo-graphic, $35, 224 pp.This illustrated history documents thecourageous and innovative ways that en-slaved Africans developed their own uniqueculture in the midst of slavery and examineshow that culture developed and flourishedthrough the years after emancipation to theturn of the century.

EX H IBIT IO N SIInnvvookkiinngg tthhee SSppiirriitt:: WWoorrsshhiipp TTrraaddiittiioonnss iinntthhee AAffrriiccaann WWoorrlldd Through February 29, 2004

The product of more than twenty-five yearsof travel and research by New York TimesphotojournalistChester Higgins, Jr.,this photographic es-say explores worshippractices across eth-nic, national, cultur-al, and religiousboundaries through-out the Africanworld and docu-ments the vitalityand diversity of theglobal African religious experience. The im-ages featured in the exhibition also serve asthe central theme of Higgins’s book, Feelingthe Spirit: Searching the World for the Peopleof Africa. Culled from his archive of almosta million photographs documenting theglobal African experience, the photographsin Invoking the Spirit explore the myriadways in which African peoples veneratetheir sacred deities, invoking their presenceand spirit in their life worlds. Documentedhere are the sacred places African peoples—in Africa and the Americas—create and/orconsecrate; the diverse spiritual leaders whoare involved in the conduct of worship ac-tivities; the universal use of prayer as a for-mal means of communicating with Godand the spirits; the rites, rituals, and cere-monies Africans use to pay tribute to Godand invoke His/Her presence; and the rolesof music and dance in religious services,ceremonies, and rituals.

TThhee BBuuffffaalloo SSoollddiieerrss:: TThhee AAffrriiccaann--AAmmeerriiccaannSSoollddiieerr iinn tthhee UU..SS.. AArrmmyy

November 6, 2003 –February 29, 2004Featuring the collec-tions of Kareem Ab-dul-Jabbar and An-thony L. Powell, withillustrations by Avelde Knight, The BuffaloSoldiers: The African-American Soldier in

the U.S. Army surveys nearly five decades ofAmerican history and tells the story of earlyAfrican-Americans soldiers and their ser-vice in the U.S. Army.

Schomburg Center programs and exhibitions aresupported in part by the City of New York, theState of New York, the Office of the Borough Presi-dent of Manhattan, the New York State Black,Puerto Rican and Hispanic Legislative Caucus, theRockefeller Foundation Endowment for the Per-forming Arts, The Coca-Cola Foundation, NewYork Life Foundation, Annie E. and Sarah L. De-laney Charitable Trusts, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.,and the Edler Hawkins Foundation.

The Schomburg Center is a member of the HarlemStrategic Cultural Collaborative (HSCC).

SCHOMBURG SOCIETYCONSERVATORS

The Schomburg Center is pleasedto acknowledge the followingdonors of membership gifts of$1,000 or more from June 2003through December 1, 2003.

Mr. and Mrs. E. ThomasWilliams, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin L.Robinson

Ms. Regina Austin Diawara

Dr. Benjamin F. Payton

Ms. Linda Dunham

Dr. Celesti Colds Fechter

Mrs. Gloria W. Wingfield

Ms. Camille Yarbrough

Mr. John Fairman

Mrs. Lesley Nan Haberman

Ms. Beverly Stewart

Ms. Christine B. Hall

Mrs. Maria Cole

Mr. Byron E. Lewis

Bishop Robert W. Harris

Ms. Deborah M. Lyons


AFRICANA HERITAGE2004 Volume 4, Number 1Africana Heritage is a quarterly publication of the Schom-burg Center for Research in Black Culture for members whocontribute $35 or more annually. The Schomburg Center isone of the Research Libraries of The New York Public Li-brary, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.

Africana Heritage, 515 Malcolm XBoulevard, New York, NY 10037Copyright © 2004 The New YorkPublic Library, Astor, Lenox andTilden Foundations

Howard Dodson Executive Editor

Roberta Yancy Managing Editor Jacqueline Dowdell EditorContributors Joan Harris, Christopher Moore,Carlyle Leach, Sylviane DioufKenneth McFarlin Graphic DesignerPhotography: Manu Sassoonian, E. Lee White,Christopher Moore

O ne hundred fifty Junior Scholarssat in rapt attention with openjournals and pens in hand as Liv-ing Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

engaged in frank and instructive dialogueon subjects ranging from his Buffalo Sol-diers collection, currently on exhibit at theSchomburg, to his illustrious college andprofessional basketball career.The Junior Scholars learned more about

the Buffalo Soldiers through thought-pro-voking discussions with the grandson of aBuffalo Soldier, historian Anthony Powell,also a collector and contributor to the Buf-falo Soldiers exhibition.The exchanges were an early sign that the

program, which began year three on Octo-ber 25, was off to a great start. This year stu-dents are required to complete an individ-ual portfolio of fiction and nonfictionwriting, family genealogy, reviews, and art-work, and to work closely with Jubilee: TheEmergence of African-American Culture, apublication based on the Center’s Lest WeForget exhibition.As part of its mission to provide young

people with diverse experiences, the pro-gram has also implemented an early morn-ing yoga class and a business team. The busi-

ness team initiative allows Junior Scholars tospend extra hours to organize Educats, aprogram devised to reinforce positive behav-ior. Twenty-five students arrive at the Centerearly to participate in these programs.The Junior Scholars are gaining new

skills and learning to articulate ideas, analy-ses, and dreams for their communities. Welook forward to their in-depth scrutiny of

the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras in thecoming months.Visit www.juniorscholars.org and keep

abreast of our progress! For more informa-tion, contact Carlyle G. Leach, Director ofthe Junior Scholars Program, at (212) 491-2051, [email protected], or Deirdre L. Holl-man, Associate Director, at (212) 491-2234,[email protected].

Schomburg Center Junior Scholars interviewed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a Saturday session in November.

Yes, it’s true…Unless you leave your IRA or pension planto a spouse, it can be taxed heavily in yourestate. If your estate is over $1 million, thesefunds can be subject to both estate and in-come tax, which may total over 80 percent.This leaves your family or other heirs amere 20 percent of a lifetime of savings.

If you are not leaving your IRA or pen-sion plan to a spouse, it may make sense to

name the Schomburg Center as beneficiaryof your plan. You can avoid completely in-come and estate taxes on these funds, thusenabling you to leave more of your otherassets to your heirs. And you can make ameaningful gift to the Schomburg Center aspart of your legacy. For more information,please contact Randy V. Beranek, Managerof Planned Giving, (212) 930-0568. Email:[email protected].

NEW MAJOR GIFTS

Gifts of $200,000 to $999,999The Estate of Joseph Borome

Gifts of $50,000 to $199,999The Coca-Cola Foundation

The Carnegie Corporation of New York

Gifts of $10,000 to $19,999The Edler G. Hawkins Foundation

Schomburg Center Junior Scholars Begin Year Three

ASSOCIATE - $35 ($23 tax deductible)

•A year’s subscription to theSchomburg newsletter

•A 20% discount in theSchomburg Shop

•A monthly programcalendar

•A personalizedmembership card

•Up to 20% discount ontickets to select Center-sponsored programs

FRIEND - $50 ($28 tax deductible)

All Associate benefits, plus:

•Invitations to members-only exhibition previews,lectures, and seminars

SUPPORTER - $100 ($63 tax deductible)

All Friend benefits, plus:

•An annual subscription tothe Quarterly BlackReview of Books

•Invitations to VIP events

PATRON - $250 ($178 tax deductible)

All Supporter benefits, plus:

•A complimentary copy of a major Centerpublication

SUSTAINER - $500 ($428 tax deductible)

All Patron benefits, plus:

•An invitation to an annualBlack Heritage Tour

CONSERVATOR - $1,000($928 tax deductible)

All Sustainer benefits, plus:

•Acknowledgment in theSchomburg Centernewsletter

•An invitation to join theSchomburg Center’s Chief,Howard Dodson, at aspecial black-tie event witha distinguished artist

•Complimentary copies ofselected Schomburgpublications

Schomburg Society BenefitsA Message fromthe NationalMembership Chair

Knowing ourlegacy—undistorted

by others anddocumented bythose who livedit—correctlyaligns you and meand our childrenin the continuing struggle to fullyclaim our dignity in all areas of life.Please join with me and thousands

of others who are making certain thatthe Schomburg has the funds not onlyto continue its unique mission, but toexpand its outreach into every home,school, and library.Please join me as a Schomburg

Society Member now!

Please make check or money order payable to the Schomburg Center/NYPL. Mail to:

The Schomburg Society • 515 Malcolm X Boulevard • New York, NY 10037-1801. To

charge call The Shop: (212) 491-2206 Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

AFRICANA HERITAGEThe Schomburg Center for Research in Black CultureThe New York Public Library515 Malcolm X BoulevardNew York, NY 10037-1801

Visit the Schomburg Center On-Line at www.schomburgcenter.org

The Schomburg Center is available for space rental.

For further information contact: (212) 491-2257.

Dr. Maya Angelou

Non Profit OrgU.S. PostagePAID

Permit # 664S. Hackensack NJ

Documents

Volume 4, #1 - New York Public Library