Schomburg Center Centennial Launch and Exhibition

The Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints—the forerunner to today’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture—opened on May 8, 1925 as a special collection of the 135th Street Branch Library. Join us on May 8, 2025 as we celebrate the centenary of the Schomburg Center. During this launch, visitors are invited to an open house of our archival divisions, important dialogues contextualizing the center’s development and evolution, and close with a public celebration marking its historic past and vital future. Get there early to enjoy tours of 100: A Century of Collections, Community, and Creativity, an exhibition exploring the library’s history through the prism of place, people, and material culture.

11AM | Exhibition Opening

12PM | Opening Ritual at Rivers cosmogram and Archival Divisions Open House

2 PM | Rebuilding the Past, Making the Future

A conversation with Schomburg Directors Khalil Gibran Muhammad (2010-2016), Kevin Young (2016 - 2021), and Joy Bivins (Current).

3:15 PM | 20th Century Harlem: An Evolving Site of Black Placemaking

A conversation with panelists Veronica Chambers (author and editor of Narrative Projects, NYTimes), Denise Murell, PhD (curator, The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, The Met), Dr. Jefferey Stewart (author, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke) and exhibition presentation by Joy Bivins.

And more!

100: A Century of Collections, Community, and Creativity celebrates 100 years of groundbreaking work at the Schomburg Center. Curated by Center Director, Joy Bivins, the exhibition will explore Schomburg’s legacy through the prism of place, people, and material culture. Featuring iconic objects from each of Schomburg’s five collecting divisions across three galleries, 100 will surround visitors with the sights, sounds, and objects that have shaped this historic institution’s first century.

Learn more about the exhibition and the NYPL's celebration of the Schomburg's centennial anniversary at schomburg.org/100.

Live captioning is available for streaming programs. ASL interpretation and additional accessibility requests can be made by e-mail to [email protected].

#SchomburgLive

FIRST COME, FIRST SEATED Events are free and open to all, but due to space constraints registration is requested. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early.

GUESTS Please note that holding seats in the Langston Hughes Auditorium is strictly prohibited and there is no food or drinks allowed anywhere in the Schomburg Center.

E-TRANSPORTATION NYPL policy prohibits electric transportation devices (e.g., motorbikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, e-skateboards) from being brought into or stored at library sites for any length of time, as this is the best way to keep our spaces & people safe.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING Programs are photographed and recorded by the Schomburg Center. Attending this event indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS Please send all press inquiries (photo, video, interviews, audio-recording, etc) at least 24-hours before the day of the program to Leah Drayton at [email protected].

Please note that professional video recordings are prohibited without expressed consent.

Leadership support for the Schomburg Center's Centennial is provided by Andreas C. Dracopoulos and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Major support for centennial exhibitions is provided by the MetLife Foundation. Additional support is provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation. The Home to Harlem Initiative is made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, United States