Arturo Schomburg’s Place in an Antiracist Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper, I argue the benefits of incorporating a study of the life and archival works of scholar Arturo Schomburg into the canon of an antiracist, culturally responsive and sustaining education curriculum. Scholars traditionally study Schomburg in the context of the Latin American independence movements or in relation to his involvement with the Harlem Renaissance. In this paper, I discuss Schomburg’s life and show how two of his works, Excerpt from Racial Integrity: A Plea for the Establishment of a Chair of Negro History in Our Schools and Colleges and “A Negro Digs Up His Past,” mirror the rhetoric used by antiracist educators and activists today. Finally, I describe the pedagogical merit in Schomburg’s archival work as a basis for a culturally responsive and sustaining education unit of study in a New York City high school English class.