Spring/Summer 2018 Programs & Exhibitions by Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Spring/Summer 2018 Programs & Exhibitions Firelei Bรกez: Joy Out of Fire p. 19

From the Director Spring/Summer 2018 As you all know, Harlem has nourished cultural giants alongside the Schomburg Center. Many such giants have made their way into our archive since its founding in 1925, from the papers of Malcolm X and James Baldwin, Sonny Rollins and our most recently added archive from the writer Ann Petry. Petry, whose bold novel The Street made her the first black woman to have a book on the bestseller lists, kept some seventy-six journals from the 1920s until her death that now form the basis of our collection. These diaries, as well as hundreds of letters with friends and family, provide a whole new look at her life and art. This is yet the latest in our initiative to bring the sons and daughters of Harlem home. What I’m struck by this spring, apart from the beauty of Harlem and our now-open courtyard that my office overlooks, are the ways that this past is ever present. This is at work in Joy Out of Fire, the new exhibition by artist Firelei Báez on view in our Latimer/ Edison gallery. An image from the show graces the cover of this program guide, revealing the ways Báez literally joins the rich history of art collection and exhibition here at the Schomburg Center, drawing inspiration, images, and even handwriting from the archives themselves. It is fitting that this exhibition is in close proximity to the murals of the great Aaron Douglas, presented to Arturo Schomburg himself in 1934 and now on display in our Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division. For Baez’s large-scale works not only reference Douglas’s treasured murals in terms of their scale covering the gallery walls, but also draw their palette from his Aspects of Negro Life. It is a pleasure to have Báez’s work on our walls and sharing the spirit of the place along with the bright eyes of James Baldwin in the Richard Avedon portrait now looking down from our entrance walls and the ashes of Langston Hughes resting beneath the cosmogram in our Langston Hughes

Lobby. Like all our exhibitions, programs, and outreach, Joy Out of Fire is a gateway to just some of the 11 million items in our collection. By focusing on some of our most treasured women creators, from Ida B. Wells to Gwendolyn Brooks and Angela Davis, Báez offers an interpretation that connects history to contemporary narratives that shape our nation and the world. This show also marks a collaboration between the Schomburg Center and the Studio Museum in Harlem, the first we expect of many. We are delighted to be hosting this second InHarlem show with the Studio Museum while their space is undergoing its own renovations to allow them to continue to flourish into the future. This is what the Schomburg Center is about after all: not just preserving the past, but looking ahead to the future. We look forward to seeing you at our robust programs this season and into many tomorrows.

01 01 Authors & Archives

04 05 Exhibitions

05 Between the Lines 06 Open Archive

19 Joy Out of Fire 20 Syncretic Vibrations 21 Black Power!

05 06 Education

Arts, Ideas & People

09 Theater Talks 09 Talks at the Schomburg 10 Performance 11 Films

23 Youth Education 23 Conversations in Black Freedom Studies

04 03 Community Events

06 06 Calendar Listings

26 Public Programs & More

16 Community 17 First Fridays

THERE’S MORE

HOW TO REGISTER

The featured calendar listings are highlights from our full program schedule. For the most complete and up-to-date information, please visit: schomburgcenter.org/calendar

To register for our free events, please visit: schomburgcenter. eventbrite.com

Kevin Young Director, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Connect with us:

Cover Image: To Write Fire Until It Is Every Breath, Firelei Báez, 2018. Photo by Adam Reich.

Authors & Archives

BETWEEN THE LINES

Brown by Kevin Young, in conversation with Claudia Rankine Wednesday, May 2 6:30 PM Director of the Schomburg Center Kevin Young has published a new collection of poetry titled Brown. Divided into “Home Recordings” and “Field Recordings,” Brown speaks to the way personal experience is shaped by culture, while culture is forever affected by the personal, recalling a black Kansas boyhood to comment on our times. Young will be in conversation with award-winning poet Claudia Rankine, author of five poetry collections including Citizen: An American Lyric.

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston Tuesday, May 8 6:30 PM The highly anticipated Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” edited by Deborah G. Plant is one of Zora Neale Hurston’s most important works. A never-before-published work of nonfiction, Hurston’s Barracoon captures the life of Kossola, also known as Cudjo Lewis, one of the last known living survivors of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Join us as we delve into the significance of Kossola’s life within the larger context of slave narratives, and the impact Hurston’s training as an anthropologist and ethnographer had on her literary works of fiction and nonfiction. Panelists will include Deborah G. Plant, Zora Neale Hurston scholar and literary critic; Glory Edim, founder of Well-Read Black Girl and editor of a forthcoming anthology of black women writers (Ballantine Books); and Dr. Sylviane Diouf, award-winning historian of the African Diaspora, author of Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America (Oxford University Press). A book launch reception hosted by HarperCollins/ Amistad follows. Presented in partnership with the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery

@SchomburgLive: What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons, in conversation with Rio Cortez Monday, June 11 1:00 PM

Kevin Young, photo by Melanie Dunea.

Author Zinzi Clemmons will be in conversation with poet and Schomburg Shop manager Rio Cortez for a Facebook Live chat about the paperback release of her debut novel What We Lose. Writer Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House, describes the novel as “Part meditation on loss, part examination of identity as it relates to ethnicity, nationality, gender, and class, and part intimate look at one woman’s coming of age. What We Lose announces a talented new voice in fiction.” Clemmons was a 2017 National Book Award 5 Under 35 Honoree.

OPEN ARCHIVE

Join Schomburg Center librarians and archivists as they unveil our latest pop-up displays featuring items from our coveted collection of archival materials. Be the first to get up close and personal with selected items and enjoy an audience Q&A with the collection’s curators.

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Thursday, May 24 1:00 PM Join Schomburg Center librarians and archivists as they display selected items from our collection of materials highlighting the life and career of legendary dancer and actor Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Get up close and personal with the selected items and enjoy an audience Q&A with the collection’s curators. “Bill Robinson on street in Harlem,” 1932. The Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library, Digital Collections.

About the Schomburg Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the research, preservation, and exhibition of materials focused on the African American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. Begun with the collections of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg 93 years ago, the collection now spans nearly 11 million items— enabling the Schomburg Center to encourage lifelong learning and exploration with diverse programming that illuminates the richness of black history and culture worldwide.

Visit us online to learn about our collections and hours of operation. schomburgcenter.org Schomburg Center programs and exhibitions are supported in part by the City of New York; the State of New York; the New York City Council Black, Latino and Asian Caucus; the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus; the Rockefeller Foundation Endowment for the Performing Arts; and the Annie E. and Sarah L. Delany Charitable Trusts.

Arts, Ideas & People

Tarell Alvin McCraney (top). Donja Love, photo by Brandon Nick.

THEATER TALKS

TALKS AT THE SCHOMBURG

Tarell Alvin McCraney & Donja R. Love Wednesday, May 16 6:30 PM Playwrights Tarell Alvin McCraney and Donja R. Love will join us for an evening exploring the impact of black queer voices in theater and the power of diverse narratives to propel humanity forward. Tarell Alvin McCraney is an Oscarwinning screenwriter of Moonlight and a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship Grant. His play CHOIR BOY will make its Broadway premiere at the MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in December 2018. Donja R. Love is an Afro-Queer playwright, poet, and filmmaker from Philadelphia. He’s the recipient of the 2018 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award, and was the 2017 Princess Grace Playwriting Fellow. Love’s Sugar in Our Wounds has a 2018 World Premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage II in June.

Consecrating the Cosmos Wednesday, June 20 6:30 PM Join us for an evening with Nyugen E. Smith and D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem in conversation on masquerade, performance, and spirituality in Carnival traditions in the African Diaspora through the lens of Trinidad and Tobago. The program will begin with a collaborative performance by Smith and DuystAkpem of Rivers, Houston Conwill’s work (cosmogram) that honors Langston Hughes and Arturo A. Schomburg, inspired by Hughes’s poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” Shynel Brizan a.k.a. D Jab Queen during the 2017 Trinidad and Tobago Carnival’s Kings and Queens Traditional Mas semifinals competition.

PERFORMANCE

FILMS

Comedy@The Schomburg Wednesday, July 11 6:00 PM

National Tap Day: Bill “Bojangles” Robinson Birthday Tribute Performance Friday, May 25 7:00 PM

18th Annual Malcolm X Birthday Commemoration Saturday, May 19 6:30 PM | Tickets: $10 The Schomburg Center is proud to celebrate the 18th Annual Commemoration of the Birthday of Malcolm X. This year we have partnered with Changing Perceptions Theater as they present Happy Birthday Malcolm and Lorraine! A new generation of Black playwrights have interpreted portions of speeches, interviews, and letters by Malcolm X and Lorraine Hansberry into short scenes to celebrate Malcolm and Lorraine. Malcolm X in Harlem 1958, photo by Cecil Layne. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.

The Schomburg Center has partnered with Divine Rhythms Productions to debut the performance Raising the Bar. Conceived and choreographed by award-winning collaborators Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels-Smith, Raising the Bar is a new revue celebrating the timeless relationship between tap dance and jazz— two of the most popular original African American art forms that has since been embraced worldwide. “Bill (Bojangles) Robinson starred in Blackbirds of 1928.” The Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library, Digital Collections. 1928.

This evening of stand-up comedy features dynamic women of the Sister of Comedy series. Under the direction of Agunda Okeyo, Sister of Comedy is an ongoing production at Carolines on Broadway, showcasing a “who’s who” of black women in stand-up. Okeyo has worked with HBO stars, including Yvonne Orji of Insecure, Phoebe Robinson of Two Dope Queens, Zainab Johnson of Def Comedy Jam, and many more. The program will be followed by a conversation with the comedians and Okeyo, exploring this winning era for Black women in comedy and hardships of the journey. We will kick off the evening with a pre-reception in our Langston Hughes Lobby.

The Gospel According to André Tuesday, May 22 6:30 PM Join us for an advance screening of the documentary The Gospel According to André. André Leon Tally has been a fixture in the world of fashion for so long that it’s difficult to imagine a time when he wasn’t defining the boundaries of great style. Kate Novack’s intimate portrait, The Gospel According to André takes viewers on an emotional journey from André’s roots growing up in the segregated Jim Crow South to becoming one of the most influential tastemakers and fashion curators of our times. Following the film, André Leon Tally will be in conversation with director Kate Novack and broadcast journalist Tamron Hall. Presented in partnership with Magnolia Pictures and Maysles Documentary Center.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS

Read the Book, Meet the Author Add these titles to your reading list from this season’s programs, then mark your calendar to see the authors discuss their work!

Notable Scholarship

Brown by Kevin Young

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Wednesday, May 2

Tuesday, May 8

Walking Harlem by Karen Taborn

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

Saturday, May 19

Monday, June 11

Check out these books recommended by Schomburg Education, Conversations in Black Freedom Studies & The Lapidus Center.

The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition by Manisha Sinha

Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica by Sasha Turner

Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage by Sowande Mustakeem

Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America by Sylviane Diouf

Volunteer at the Schomburg!

Schomburg Center volunteers play an important role in helping us achieve our mission. Volunteers have the opportunity to share their talents and learn more about the Schomburg, while being part of the Schomburg Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. Apply to become a Schomburg Center volunteer and/or docent today. 212.491.2265 SchomburgVolunteers@nypl.org

A Research Center The Schomburg Center serves the community as a center and a library, as well as a space that encourages lifelong learning and exploration. Our research divisions include: >> Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books >> Art and Artifacts >> Photographs and Prints >> Moving Image and Recorded Sound >> Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference

Visit us online to learn more about our collections and hours of operation for each division: SchomburgCenter.org

Join the Schomburg Society and celebrate the rich legacy of the Schomburg Center while ensuring its impact for generations to come.

As a member, you will receive special benefits while directly supporting the Schomburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission to: >> Acquire essential books, media, and artifacts related to the history of the African Diaspora >> Preserve our collection and digitize it for wider accessibility >> Share our collections through classes, exhibitions, and public events with all who seek more information about the Black experience. Learn more about the Schomburg Society. 212.491.2252 SchomburgSociety@nypl.org

Community Events Walking Harlem: The Ultimate Guide to the Cultural Capital of Black America Saturday, May 19 3:00â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6:00 PM The Schomburg Shop hosts Karen Taborn and the launch of her new book from Rutgers University Press, Walking Harlem: The Ultimate Guide to the Capital of Black America. This illustrated guide of five different Harlem walking tours reveals rich histories through past and present landmarks. The afternoon will include a short walking tour with the author beginning and ending at the Schomburg Center, followed by a Q&A and book signing in the Langston Hughes Lobby.

FIRST FRIDAYS

COMMUNITY

Every first friday of the month, join us at the Schomburg Center for our popular monthly social gathering with food, beverages, a DJ, and extended hours to view our exhibitions.

Dr. Betty Shabazz Annual Memorial Awards Ceremony

Tuesday, July 10 6:00 PM In collaboration with Women in Islam, Inc., the Schomburg Center celebrates the legacy of Dr. Betty Shabazz by honoring women of all backgrounds and faiths who demonstrate unwavering and courageous dedication to helping others. Contact aishaaladawiya@nypl.org or call 212.491.2203 for information.

Black Fraternity & Sorority Edition May 4

Gay Pride Edition June 1

House Music Edition August 3

Labor Day Edition September 7

Honoring Michael Jackson October 5

Afro-Beat Edition November 2

Afro-Latino Festival Conference Friday, July 13 10:00 AMâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;6:00 PM The Schomburg Center is excited to host for the third year the Afro-Latino Fest NYC Conference. The day is highlighted by the curated panels, a keynote awards presentation, and workshops. A schedule will be available online at AfroLatinoFestNYC.com.

Exhibitions

To Write Fire Until It Is Every Breath, Firelei Báez, 2018. Photo by Adam Reich.

EXHIBITIONS

Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire Through November 24 Latimer/Edison Gallery Joy Out of Fire continues artist Firelei Báez’s longstanding interest in representations of women, particularly Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latina women in visual culture and history. In this exhibition, Báez features women whose legacies are preserved and maintained by the archives of the Schomburg Center, reimagining them in conversation through imaginative portraits that incorporate materials such as reproductions of archival photographs, notes, diaries, letters, and manuscripts. In this gathering, the artist brings together women from different eras and walks of life, including important women of color whose contributions have historically been overlooked or thought of as tangential to their male counterparts. This inHarlem project is a partnership between The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Schomburg Center.

EXHIBITIONS

Syncretic Vibrations: Exploring the Mosaic of Blackness through Melville Herskovits Through May 31, 2019 American Negro Theater Opening June 14, Syncretic Vibrations engages in a calland-response between the Teen Curators Program and the work of anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits. Through research, students have reimagined a mosaic of blackness while critically examining: who controls how a group of people are studied, represented, and therefore remembered? The exhibition features an array of studentproduced mixed-media works, exhibition didactics, and archival materials. Young men from Sarramaka Afro Maroon community, Suriname. Mellville Herskovits collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library.

Black Power! Through October 31 Main Exhibition Hall The Schomburg Center is pleased to extend the viewing of Black Power! This iconic exhibition, curated to honor the 50th anniversary of the Black Power Movement, presents photographs, documents, ephemera, video, and audio material that explore, conceptualize, and interpret the Black Power Movement through the lens of nine key themes: organizations, coalitions, political prisoners, aesthetics, education, international influence, popular culture, publications, and the Black Arts Movement. Like no other ideology before, Black Powerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a multiform and ideologically diverse movementâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;shaped black consciousness and identity and left an immense legacy that continues to inform the contemporary American landscape. Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf, Curator Isissa Komada-John, Exhibitions Manager & Exhibitions Designer

Angela Davis, by Stephen Shames, 1972.

Education

YOUTH EDUCATION

The Schomburg’s year-round educational programs include two out-of-school youth offerings. The Junior Scholars program, a mainstay in Harlem for many years, enrolls young people ages 11 to 18 in a uniquely designed free pre-college black studies program on Saturdays. Teen Curators is an after-school arts enrichment program that teaches high school students to develop and curate exhibitions.

Junior Scholars: The Blackprint Saturday, May 12 10:30 AM–6:00 PM The Junior Scholars program celebrates creativity, historical literacy, and activism at their 16th Annual Youth summit, The Blackprint. This multimedia event reflects the students’ yearlong study of lineage, democracy, activism, and African and African American art and history. The daylong program is filled with youth-led projects in theater, spoken word, video production, media, visual arts, photography, and comic book art. The Schomburg Junior Scholars program is made possible through the generous support of The Carver Scholarship Fund, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the New York City Council, and the New York State Legislature.

Junior Scholars Youth Summit 2017, The Black Psyche. Photo by Bob Gore.

Teen Curators Thursday, June 14 6:00 PM The Teen Curators program, where arts education leads to increased historical and cultural literacy, culminate their yearlong curatorial project with an interactive program and exhibition, Syncretic Vibrations, on display in the Schomburg Center’s historic American Negro Theater. The Teen Curators program is generously funded for five years by the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation.

CONVERSATIONS IN BLACK FREEDOM STUDIES

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture brings the campus to the community for a series of roundtable conversations on the first Thursday of each month. This series is curated by Professors Jeanne Theoharis (Brooklyn College/CUNY) and Komozi Woodard (Sarah Lawrence College), and introduces a new paradigm that challenges the older geography, leadership, ideology, culture, and chronology of Civil Rights historiography.

Abolitionism & Slave Resistance Thursday, May 3 6:30 PM Resistance to slavery was the cutting edge of the Age of Revolution. These scholars are rewriting that history, from slave resistance at sea to Jamaican women’s self-emancipation and international abolitionism, showing us how deep and wide those currents were. Join us for a discussion of three crucial new books: Manisha Sinha’s The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition; Sasha Turner’s Contested Bodies: Pregnancy, Childrearing, and Slavery in Jamaica; and Sowande Mustakeem’s Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex and Sickness in the Middle Passage. Presented in partnership with the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery.

The Schomburg Shop

Curated books, jewelry, decor and more, capturing the global black experience. Follow us: instagram.com/ schomburgshop

Special Events

Secure the Schomburg Center for your special event.

For more than 90 years, The New York Public Libraryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has been located at Harlemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s historic crossroads: 515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street. With its convenient location and friendly staff, the Schomburg Center is the perfect venue to make your events extraordinary.

212.491.2257 SchomburgEvents@nypl.org

Our institution offers four magnificent spaces that cater to both intimate gatherings as well as lavish extravaganzas and lends a touch of grandeur and distinction to any occasion.

CALENDAR LISTINGS

May May 1–November 24 Exhibitions InHarlem Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire Wednesday, May 2 • 6:30 PM Between the Lines Brown by Kevin Young, in conversation with Claudia Rankine