Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Specialty Museum · New York, New York
⚠ THE WORLD'S LEADING RESEARCH ARCHIVE OF THE BLACK EXPERIENCE, and ⚠ IT IS A FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A New York Public Library research centre on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, built on the collection of ARTURO SCHOMBURG, a Puerto Rican of African descent told as a schoolboy that Black people had no history. ⚠ LANGSTON HUGHES'S ASHES ARE BURIED UNDER THE FLOOR.
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, New York, 10037, United States
⚠ FREE, EVERY DAY — it is a New York Public Library research centre, and the exhibitions, the Langston Hughes lobby and most of the public programme cost nothing. ⚠ CHECK THE CLOSED DAYS: it follows LIBRARY hours, not museum hours, and that catches people out. ⚠ LOOK DOWN IN THE LOBBY — LANGSTON HUGHES'S ASHES ARE BURIED BENEATH A COSMOGRAM SET INTO THE FLOOR, inscribed with a line from 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers'. People walk across it every day without knowing. ⚠ CHECK THE EVENTS CALENDAR: the free talks, readings and film programming are substantial and are a better reason to come than the galleries alone. ⚠ IT IS A RESEARCH ARCHIVE, NOT A MUSEUM — the exhibition galleries are open to anyone, but READING ROOM ACCESS REQUIRES FREE REGISTRATION and some material needs an appointment. Most people assume this is closed to them and it is not.
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