Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library Audiobook

“Where is our historian to give us our side?” Arturo asked.

Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro–Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk’s life’s passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora 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 and curated a collection that was the cornerstone of a new Negro Division.

A century later, his groundbreaking collection, known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, has become a beacon to scholars all over the world.

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“Narrator Butler entertains and charms as his narration of Weatherford’s biography does justice to an extraordinary man and his story…Supported by a musical soundscape that establishes the tone, Butler’s voice mesmerizes and transports listeners through Schomburg’s life and times, from Puerto Rico to New York City, to France, Spain, Germany, England, Cuba, and Nashville, Tennessee. His impassioned recitation of the poem ‘Whitewash’ will linger long after the audio concludes.”

— Booklist (audio review)