Amid the authors and artists of the Harlem Renaissance, one stood out as totally unique: an Afro-Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk’s passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages.

When Schomburg’s collection became so big it began to overflow his house (and his wife threatened to mutiny), he turned to the New York Public Library, where he created a collection that became the cornerstone of a new Negro Division. A century later, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.