"I have a voice. My voice is powerful. My voice can change the world." Truer words have never before been spoken from award-winning Young Adult author Renee Watson (This Side of Home), whose influential voice is just one of 30 featured in the Schomburg Mixtape, a fascinating collection of 15 audio conversations between the Schomburg Center's extended family of intellectuals, artists, educators, activists, authors, filmmakers, business mavens, and more. 

As part of winning the National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Schomburg Center received an additional gift to record a series of oral histories that capture what inspires those who have inspired us. From Watson's spirited call and response to writer Darryl Pinckney's personal reflections on James Baldwin; from Schomburg's own Sister Aisha Al-Aladawiya's mission to empower Muslim women to Harriet Michel's  journey to become the first ever black woman president of the New York Urban League; and from Black Comic Book Festival co-founder John Jennings's passion for Afrofuturism to 13-year-old Myles Dawson's hope to encourage other youth with the Schomburg Junior Scholars Program, Schomburg Mixtape is the perfect blend of dialogues that transcend race, age, and gender at a time when human interaction has become almost obsolete. 

Head over to the Schomburg Center's SoundCloud page to listen to each of these amazing discussions, and continue the conversation on social media using #SchomburgMixtape.

Happy listening!