Arthur Schomburg died of complications from
an infection on June 10, 1938. He was buried in
Brooklyn at the Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Bibliography
Arthur Schomburg Papers, Schomburg Center for Re-
search in Black Culture; Moorland-Spingarn Re-
search Center, Howard University; James Weldon
Johnson Collection, Yale University; Charles John-
son Collection, Fisk University.
Moss, Alfred. The American Negro Academy. Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981.
Piñeiro de Rivera, Flor. Arthur A. Schomburg: A Puerto
Rican’s Quest for His Black Heritage.San Juan: Cen-
tro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el
Caribe, 1989.
Sinnette, Elinor Des Verney. Arthur Alfonso Schomburg,
Black Bibliophile and Collector: A Biography.New
York: New York Public Library, 1989.
Schuyler, George (1895–1977)
A prolific and outspoken writer and journalist,
George Samuel Schuyler is credited with publish-
ing the first African-American satirical novel.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, he was the son
of chef George Schuyler and his wife Eliza Jane
Fisher [Fischer] Schuyler. Following the death of
his father, Schuyler and his mother relocated to
Syracuse, New York. His mother remarried, and
his stepfather was a porter for the New York Cen-
tral Railroad. He married Josephine Codgill Lewis,
a white Texan with liberal views on race, in Jan-
uary 1928. The couple had one child, daughter
Philippa, a gifted pianist, composer, and mission-
ary who, like her father, also pursued a career in
journalism. Philippa Schuyler, whose IQ was mea-
sured at 185 when she was five years old, died
tragically in 1967 while working as a war corre-
spondent in Vietnam. Her mother was devastated
by the loss and committed suicide in 1969.
Schuyler passed away eight years later, in August
1977.
Schuyler left high school before graduation
and joined the army in 1912. His six years of ser-
vice included deployment with the 25th Infantry,
a segregated infantry unit during World War I.
Following his discharge at the rank of first lieu-
tenant, Schuyler relocated to New York City. He
soon gained exposure to the UNIVERSALNEGRO
IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION and the philoso-
phies of MARCUS GARVEYand became a col-
league of A. PHILIPRANDOLPHand CHANDLER
OWEN. Schuyler joined Randolph and Owen at
THEMESSENGER,the journal that they founded
in 1917. He worked as associate editor from 1923
through 1928. In 1937 Schuyler joined the staff
of THECRISIS,where he worked as business man-
ager through 1944. His articles appeared in the
major African-American periodicals of the
Harlem Renaissance and in other mainstream
publications such as THE NATIONand AMERI-
CANMERCURY.His association with the Mercury
during the tenure of editor H. L. MENCKEN
earned Schuyler a reputation as “the colored
Mencken” (Kellner, 196). In June 1926 one of his
most controversial essays, “THE NEGRO ART
HOKUM,” appeared in The Nationand prompted
a lively public debate about the priorities, in-
tegrity, and direction of African-American artis-
tic production.
Schuyler enjoyed a lengthy and accomplished
career in journalism. In addition to working as a
special undercover correspondent from Liberia for
the New York Evening Postin 1931, Schuyler pub-
lished for many years in the PITTSBURGHCOURIER,
the newspaper where he also worked as chief edi-
torialist and associate editor. In addition, he served
as editor of the National News,literary editor at the
Manchester Union Leader,and analysis editor for
the Review of the News.
Schuyler’s literary debut came in 1931 when
he published BLACKNOMORE: Being an Account
of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in
the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933–1940 with
MACAULAY, the same company that published
works by WALLACE THURMAN and CLAUDE
MCKAY. In 1932 he published his second novel,
Slaves Today,a work based on his investigative re-
porting on the African slave trade.
In the years following the Harlem Renais-
sance, Schuyler continued to be an outspoken
social and political critic. He championed African-
American support for World War II, viewing it as a
means to challenge racism at home and to gener-
ate new domestic opportunities for people of color.
He published Black and Conservative,his autobiog-
raphy, in 1966.472 Schuyler, George