The Jewish Museum, the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, the National Museum of the American Indian—New York is awash with institutions that protect and broadcast the cultural heritage of its various ethnic enclaves. Except, that is, for the one group who came to our shores unwillingly. For a city whose evolution is so intertwined with the black experience, it’s shocking that New York has no museum devoted exclusively to the history of African-Americans.

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE
While predominantly a research library,
the Schomburg Center has featured exhibits,
including “Malcolm X: A Search for Truth”
in 2005.

Their story is not completely untold, of course. The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts and even the Jazz Museum in Harlem (which has no permanent performance or exhibit space) provide a vital outlet for creative expression. Mainstream entities do their part as well—the New-York Historical Society’s current “New York Divided” show explores the overt and subtle connections between Gotham and the slave trade, while “Black Style Now,” which ran at the Museum of the City of New York last fall, celebrated fashion icons like Tracy Reese and Kimora Lee Simmons.

But is that enough? Not according to Howard Dodson, director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “I’m pleased some of the mainstream institutions are doing major shows, but they come and go. After one or two of them, people say, ‘Well, why do we need a specific museum for black culture?’” Dodson sees a profound ignorance about the role people of African descent have played in building and breathing life into the city that a one-off exhibit just won’t rectify. “The fact that slavery existed here comes as a revelation to most white people.”

The call for such a dedicated establishment can also be heard in the halls of academia. “We need to see the story of the diaspora for ourselves, not just read about it in books, if we want to learn the lessons of history,” says Awam Amkpa, director of Africana studies at NYU.

So what’s the holdup? “The community has been in a constant state of crisis. There’s been little time or will to devote to documenting its past,” Amkpa suggests. And the emergence of a sizeable black middle class, he believes, may actually be hindering, not helping the situation. “Those who have the political capital see the civil-rights movement as their benchmark—museums about that era have been funded in Birmingham and elsewhere. But they don’t want to look back at generations of slavery and denigration, or at the culture of the streets.” Dodson views the issue more bluntly: “It’s money, pure and simple. You can’t mount something of this stature without substantial public funds, and they’re not forthcoming.”

There has been some support in Congress for a permanent museum at the African Burial Ground—a sister institute to the national museum already underway in Washington, D.C.—but according to Burial Ground spokesperson Darren Bochs, “it’s not even in the incubation stage.” Should such an institution ever open, both Adklake and Dobson are ready to share their resources and expertise. NYU has established a joint master’s program between its Africana and museum-studies departments to encourage would-be curators and archivists. The Schomburg already houses the world’s largest archive of African-American artifacts, including millions of documents, photos, recordings and artifacts ranging from vintage Klan garb to uniforms worn by the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment in WWI. But Dodson stops short of suggesting the center could play such a role itself. “We’ll continue to program public events and displays,” he says, referencing the current display “Humantypes or Stereotypes,” which examines racist caricatures from the past two centuries. “But we’re consciously not representing ourselves as a museum. We won’t pick up that mantle—because if we do, nobody else will.”

“Humantypes or Stereotypes” runs through Sept 30 at the Schomburg Center.