Democratizing Knowledge: The 135th Street Library and a Process for Reeducation

The 135^th Street library in Harlem had a reputation for ideological neutrality, not a revolutionary style of learning, but the branch’s adult education experiment exemplified how the former could inform the latter. The Carnegie Corporation placed one of its adult education initiatives at the library to avoid what the corporation’s leadership considered racial propaganda. The Harlem “experiment,” as it was called, succeeded in maintaining its neutral perception perhaps because it presented a broad spectrum of topics and speakers. The experiment lasted from 1932 to 1936, and it sponsored book clubs, discussion forums, public lectures, arts workshops, a community chorus, and a theatre group. The Carnegie Corporation’s funding enabled the branch to hire Arturo Schomburg as curator over the branch’s two Black collections, and Schomburg was later credited with helping the experiment to succeed. Schomburg’s triumphs were as much about him, the collector-turned-curator, as the process he facilitated. Schomburg led “lecture-discussions;” he visited classes and clubs. He suggested titles for researchers and prepared reading lists for schools and universities. The Harlem experiment succeeded because Schomburg was both co-laborer and guide, and the adult education movement fostered his vision for Black collections’ liberatory potential.