By Yvonne  Lopez (CEO – Puerto Rican Association for Human Development, Inc (PRAHD)

Arturo Schomburg, 1874-1938

PERTH AMBOY – This month the country celebrates the history and achievements of African Americans. We celebrate the contributions, large and small, made by the descendants of Africans; contributions that have made our country great. It is important to note that the primary center for African American History is named after Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Puerto Rican of African and German descent. The renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, located in the New York Public Library’s 135th St. branch in Harlem, has at its core Schomburg ‘s collection of over 10,000 books, manuscripts, prints, photos, letters and any other evidence he could find documenting African contribution to history.

Schomburg was born and raised in Santurce, Puerto Rican. He was intensely involved in both the Puerto Rican and Cuban independence movements from Spain during the 1890s before the Spanish American War. .

Stung by the remarks of a teacher in Puerto Rico who told him that “Negroes have no history,” he dedicated his life to proving that teacher wrong. Schomburg understood that knowledge of history was the route to racial dignity. In a his 1925 essay, “The Negro Digs Up His Past, he wrote: “History must restore what slavery took away, for it is the social damage of slavery that the present generations must repair and offset.”

In honour of African American History Month on Friday, February 21 from 12 to 2 PM; The Puerto Rican Association for Human Development, Inc (PRAHD) will present the organization’s first annual Arturo Schomburg African American History Month Award to Perth Amboy Police Officer Henry Rodgers an individual who exemplifies excellence and service to the Perth Amboy community. New Jersey Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will give remarks.