The African Migration to The Americas
History and Comtemporary Perspectives

Migración de Africa a las Américas

Historia y Perspectivas Contemporáneas

 

The Schomburg Symposium will remain as scheduled despite the recent snow fall.

Saturday
February 27, 2010
9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Taller Puertorriqueño's Education Building
2557 N. 5th St. Philadelphia PA 19133

Downloadable registration form

In the early 1900s, Puerto-Rican born Arturo Alfonso Shomburg set out to unearth for public record the history and accomplishments of Black Latinos, and later, of Black people throughout the world.

 

Each year, Taller Puertorriqueño celebrates the Arturo Schomburg Symposium which explores a different aspect of the intricate and complex relationship of the African Diaspora influences within Latin American Culture.  Through formal presentations, audiovisual demonstrations and group conversations, the participants engage in dialogues that promote increased understanding of our common traditions and influences promoting further understanding among the Philadelphia community at large. 

This symposium has served to raise consciousness about the suppressed reality of our African ancestry, bridge gaps of understanding in issues of cultural identity, been the generator of a new sense of the possible by bringing people of different back grounds together, explore difficult topics and generate new dialogue and ideas that promote an open, truly diverse society.

The Symposium honors the life and work of Puerto Rican born Arturo A. Schomburg who at an early age came to New York where he got involved with the revolutionary movement of Cubans and Puerto Ricans.  Journalist John Edward Bruce introduced Schomburg to the field of study of the African Diaspora.  Schomburg went on to become a self taught scholar amassing one of the largest collections of books and research that later became the cornerstone of the New York Public Library’s Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints.  Schomburg wrote “I depart now on a mission of love to recapture my lost heritage.”

 

Presentations and activities include:

9:30-9:50 a.m. "Continental Breakfast"

Speakers and Presentations:

9:50-10:00 a.m.  Welcome & Introductions

10:00-10:45 a.m. Dr. Irma Watkins-Owens, Associate Professor African and African American Studies, Fordham University
“Recovering the Histories of Early Caribbean Migrants in Port Cities of the  United States” Recovering the histories of diverse groups of Afro-Caribbean people who arrived mainly in southern and northern port cities of the nineteenth century United States is critically important to our understanding of the Diasporic origins of black communities in America before 1900.

10:45-11:30 am Dr. Daryle Williams, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland.  "The Intrepid Mariner Simão: A Transatlantic Journey" The story of a black Cape Verdean coalman who had a rather spectacular journey through the Portuguese-speaking Atlantic world in the 1850s, at the end of the transatlantic slave trade between Africa and Brazil.

11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Anne Eller, Ph.D. Candidate NYU, History an overview of the history of the tensions in between the Dominican Republic and Haiti which is one of the main themes of her dissertation which she is finishing to write as we speak.

12:15 – 12:45 p.m. Plenary session with all speakers

12:45 p.m. – 2 p.m. Lunch (Dance Room, 2nd floor)

2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Dr. Steeve Coupeau, Regional Executive Director, Randall Funding and Development Corporation and Publisher of NYIHA MEDIA
Will screen "The Challenge of Co-existence." by Tigu Guimaraes, a documentary on Haitian migration and contributions to the Dominican Republic.  

Screening, discussion and Q and A.

Panel: 3:15 - 5:00 p.m.
African Diaspora: Immigration, Racism and Legal Policies/Diáspora Africana: Inmigración, Racismo y Políticas Legales
Joyce Miller Esq., Civil Rights Advocate, Philadelphia
Angel Ortiz, Esq., Former City Councilman at Large, City of Philadelphia
Steeve Coupeau, Ph. D.
Moderator, Ronel Perrault, Ph. D

 

Registration options/Opciones para registrarse:

In person/ en persona; Taller Puertorriqueño @ 2721 N. 5th St. Philadelphia PA

Phone/ teléfono; by using your credit card: 215.426.3311/usando su tarjeta de crédito
llamar 215.426.3311

Mail/ correo: send your registration form with a check/money order payable to/enviar
su forma de registración con su cheque a:Taller Puertorriqueño c/o: Schomburg Symposium.
2721 N. 5th St. Philadelphia PA 19133

Online at Tallerpr.org or annualschomburgsymposium.eventbrite.com Admission includes Continental Breakfast and Lunch/admisión incluye desayuno ligero y almuerzo.

Deadline for Registrations/Fecha límite para registrarse:
Thursday February 25th by 3 p.m./ jueves 25 de febrero.
Cost/Costo $20.00 in advance/Por adelantado
$25.00 at the door/En la puerta

Taller members, seniors and students with I. D. receive 50% discount/50% de descuento para miembros,  envejecientes y estudiantes con identificación.

The official registration and financial information of Taller Puertorriqueño, Inc. may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1 (800) 732-0999.  Registration does not imply endorsement.