2,000 etchings, and thousands of other items. The
impressive Schomburg collection included Phillis
Wheatley manuscripts, the scrapbook of famed
Shakespearean actor and tragedian IRAALDRIDGE,
and volumes of Jupiter Hammon’s poetry. His col-
lection complemented the library’s current rare
and special collections that included works by
Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Toussaint Louver-
ture, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and others. Schom-
burg was appointed curator of the collection in
- Forty years later, in 1972, the Harlem
Branch of the New York Public Library was re-
named the Schomburg Center for Research in
Black Culture.
Countless numbers of Harlem Renaissance–era
writers, artists, and audiences benefited from their
access to and affiliation with the library. Novelist
NELLALARSENmade her transition out of nursing by
volunteering at the library. In January 1922 she
began working as an assistant at the branch. In the
following years, she would be promoted to children’s
librarian. JESSIEFAUSET, who was working with THE
CRISIS,and ETHELRAYNANCE, assistant to Urban
League president and Opportunityeditor CHARLESS.
JOHNSONalso were among the number of dynamic
volunteers at the branch. RALPHELLISONused the
library to facilitate his Federal Writers’ Project re-
search on African Americans in New York. The li-
brary also was the base for the CRIGWAPLAYERS,a
troupe that Regina Andrews and W. E. B. DuBois
founded in 1924. The group, which evolved into the
Krigwa Players and then became known as the
HARLEMEXPERIMENTALTHEATRE, was based in the
library. It staged performances, including productions
of two Andrews plays, in the 135th Street library
basement. The HARLEM SUITCASE THEATRE,a
troupe that LANGSTONHUGHESfounded in 1937,
also used the branch basement for performances.
The 135th Street Branch of the New York
Public Library, now known as the Schomburg Li-
brary, is still thriving. It continues the impressive
legacy established by its thoughtful and visionary
leadership during the 1920s and 1930s.
Bibliography
Dodson, Howard, Christopher Moore, and Roberta
Yancy. The Black New Yorkers: The Schomburg Illus-
trated Chronology.New York: John Wiley and Sons,
2000.
Sinnette, Elinor Des Verney. Arthur Alfonso Schomburg,
Black Bibliophile & Collector: A Biography. New
York: New York Public Library, 1989.Harlem Experimental Theatre
The theater company that evolved out of the Krigwa
Players, a drama troupe founded by W. E. B. DUBOIS
and REGINAANDERSON, also known as the Negro
Experimental Theatre. The Harlem branch of the
NEWYORKPUBLICLIBRARYwas the base for the
troupe, which critics hailed. The company set new
standards in African-American theater and inspired
small troupes around the nation.
The group performed two of Anderson’s plays.
In 1931 the group performed the sobering antilynch-
ing play CLIMBINGJACOB’SLADDER,and in 1932 the
play Underground, which revisited the antebellum
era, slavery, and the Underground Railroad.
See alsoCRIGWAPLAYERS;KRIGWAPLAYERS.Harlemites
A term used to describe residents of HARLEM.Harlem Liberator
The newspaper that began as the Negro Champion.
In 1928, GEORGEPADMORE, a Trinidadian pan-
Africanist who decided to immerse himself in poli-
tics rather than pursue premedical studies, became
editor of the NEGROCHAMPION.He had a direct
impact on Ghanaian politics as the adviser to
Kwame Nkrumah, the figure under whose leader-
ship GHANAbecame the first African nation to re-
gain its independence.
The Harlem Liberatorwas published weekly
from 1933 through 1934. It then became known as
the Negro Liberator and continued to appear
through 1935.Bibliography
Hooker, James R. Black Revolutionary; George Padmore’s
Path from Communism to Pan-Africanism.New York:
Praeger, 1967.Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro
A special issue of SURVEYGRAPHIC,a highly re-
garded journal of social work, which focused on216 Harlem Experimental Theatre