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The Schomburg Center and Black Culture

Profile:
Mr. David A.G. Johnson graduated from Columbia University, School of International Affairs. He worked for the Mayor's office of the City of New York. He was the staff of the Institute of International Education (IEE), placement specialist for Foreign Fullbright Program.
Then, he had been on the board of directors of the Schomburg Center. As the third career, he is currently a teacher of a high school in New York.

The Schomburg Center

The Mission of the Schomburg Center
The Schomburg Center is distinguished center for collection of materials on people of African descent. Those materials means African American presence from ancient period to present period. Now, the Schomburg Center is trying to tell the truth about the African Descent.

"Schomburg"
"Schomburg" is the name of a person came from Puerto Rrico. Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born in Puerto Rrico in 1874.
Schomburg's family was very mixed background. He had German sirname, Schomburg, because his father was descendant of a Catholic from Germany. On the other hand, he had a great deal of African ancestry.
When he was around 8 years old, he found that there were no African History which people could see. At that time, people didn't find any important meaning on historical items of African American Culture.
So, he began to research and collect the materials of African American history, such as photographs and manuscripts. Finally, out of his effort, he collected over 5-6 million items of photographs, moving images, recorded sounds.

African American Culture

Influence of African Culture to the World
Jazz is very famous among the world. Almost all people knows Jazz in Nagoya. This is the cultural contribution to not only the United States but the world. Rap comes out of the African American community in the United States.

Image and Truth of African American
   --- "What is the image of African American?" ---
Most people answer like this,
    --- "Athletes", "Basketball Players", or "Musicians" ---.
Yes. it's true. There are many famous African athletes and musicians.
However,

	Can all African Americans run fast?	---	No!
	Are all African Americans good at playing basketball?	---	No!
	Are all African Americans good at playing music?	---	No!

It is just a part of African American achievements.

On the other hand, however, almost no one points out intellectual achievements of African Americans. Actually, there are many African American scientists, astronomers, writers, and entrepreneurs.
The fist female millionaire is an African American, Madam C.J. Walker. She made money from hair products.
Toni Morrison is a famous African American writer. She won the Novel Prize in Literature in 1993.
The person who designed the current Washington D.C. was a black man, Benjamin Banker. He designed it based on an original plan drawn by a French architect, Pierre L'e fant.

Stereotypes
As you see in the first question (see above), most people doesn't focus on the intellectual achievements of African American. Why many people have such image of African American? Where did such kind of stereotypes come from?
Actually, African American excelled at International Competition and excelled at entertainers. They entered into this area since they could not enter another area because of lack of opportunity caused by discrimination. In other words, they were rechanneled.

Persecutions
Benjamin Banker (see above) was not well-educated. At that time, African American could not go to school, because it was illegal. If a black man knew how to read and write, he could be killed for teaching African American how to read or write. And, many good white people who did help black people to learn how to read and write were forced to hold their hands on branded hot iron and to be burned their hands as a reminder not to do that.

History of African American

Difference of Slavery Systems between in ancient Rome and in the US
In ancient Rome or ancient Greek, slavery system had already existed. However, these were completely different from the slavery system that African Americans experienced in the United States. In ancient Rome, slaves were the prisoner of war. The slaves had their dignity, which means they are better than a table (better than an object).
On the other hand, the slaves in the United States were just a piece of property. They had neither intelligence nor their dignity. They were like a piece of chopsticks. That is chattel slavery which African American experienced in the United States.

Contradiction in the US
When the United States was founded, the politicians wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which promises "all men, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
However, those politicians, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were slave holders.

What Dr. Martin Luther King really wanted to say is, ..
In Dr. Martin Luther King's address, the most famous phrase is "I have a dream."
However, the most important point what he really wanted to say is not the sentence but the phrase,
--- America has given the Nigro people a blank check (which promises them any amount of money they want) but marked "Insufficient Funds". ---
In other words, he did want to point out the contradiction between "a blank check" (that means the unalienable human rights) and "Insufficient Funds" (that means the existing slavery system).

Historical Evolution of the Name of African American
When the first African came to America, they called "Nigro" (Spanish word which means "Black"). Then, they called themselves "Africans", then, they recalled themselves "colored". This name evolution reflects political and social change in the United States.
In 1970s, with the students movements, "Aflo-Americans" become popular. Then, now (since 1980s), they call themselves "African American".

What is important for mutual understanding of cultures.

To Avoid Stereotypes.
Not only African American Culture, but also all other cultures (of course, including Japanese culture) have various kinds of aspects, because the culture is the collection of each indivisual's achievement. Someone can run fast. Someone is good at playing music. Someone is a sophisticated writer. They are NOT all of them BUT some of them. This kind of "All XXX is ..." style expression is very dangerous for mutual understanding of cultures, because such kind of expression produces stereotypes and discrimination in some cases.
We should avoid that. What should we do to avoid that? It's simple.
Always Open Your Eyes.

Related Sites
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The New York Public Library

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