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Del Tech.
Stanton Campus, Delaware, February 20, 2001
THE
preservation of black history has become the lifework of the
former Penn
State
University
scholar and athlete, Charles L. Blockson. The
Norristown, Pennsylvania, native has written seven books, and
spent more than forty years amassing one of the nation’s largest
private collections of items relating to black history and
traditions.
In 1984, the
noted bibliophile and author donated his collection to Temple
University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Charles L.
Blockson Afro-American Collection, of which he is curator,
is a part of the Special Collections Department of the Temple
University Libraries and is housed in Sullivan Hall. His
collection now contains over 200,000 items, books, pamphlets,
manuscripts, prints and drawings, sheet music, broadsides,
posters and artifacts. The collection spans nearly four
centuries from Leo Africanus to the present, and geographically
from Africa through Europe and the Caribbean to the United
States. During high school years in Norristown, Pennsylvania,
Mr. Blockson starred in football and track, subsequently
receiving offers of athletic scholarships from sixty colleges.
He selected Penn State, and roomed with teammates Rosey Grier
and Lenny Moore. He later passed up a professional career with
the New York Giants to pursue his first love, black history.
In addition to
serving as curator of his collection, Mr. Blockson continues to
lecture, organizes black studies programs for schools and
colleges, and arranges exhibitions, such as; Of Color,
Humanities and Statehood: The Black Experience In
Pennsylvania Over Three Centuries, 1681-1981, which toured
the state. His last project, Paul Robeson in Philadelphia and
Beyond: A Centennial Exhibition 1898-1998, was a
project with the Free Library of Philadelphia which was
exhibited April-July 1998. In 1989, he launched a historical
marker project to erect 74 markers commemorating the
contribution of African Americans to the City of Philadelphia.
The author of
seven books, his first, Pennsylvania’s Black History,
which was published in 1975, considered to be the best work
available on the subject. His second, Black Genealogy, a
guide for tracing black ancestry that was lauded by Newsweek
upon its publication in 1977, prior to the emergence of the
acclaimed Alex Haley’s Roots. In 1981, his third book,
The Underground Railroad In Pennsylvania was published. His
fourth book, First Person Narratives of Escapes to Freedom In
The North, was published in 1987. In 1989, his fifth book
was published, A Commented Bibliography of One Hundred and
One Influential Books by and About Black People Of African
Descent (1556-1982). In July, 1984, his article entitled
Escape From Slavery; The Underground Railroad, was published
in the National Geographic magazine. In 1991,
Catalogue of The Charles L. Blockson Afro American Collection,
was published by Temple University Press. His latest book,
Damn Rare: The Memoirs Of An African American Bibliophile,
was published in 1998.
Mr.
Blockson
has lectured in the West
Indies and South America for the United States Information
Agency, and completed a tour of lectures in Denmark. In
Norristown, he was the first individual to be inducted in the
school’s district’s Hall of Fame and Hall of Champions. A
bronze bust of Mr. Blockson was presented as a gift to Temple
University by the celebrated sculptor, Antonio Salemme, in 1990.
Mr. Blockson is the recipient of numerous awards including the
Philadelphia Urban League’s Leadership Award for 1991.
Mr. Blockson
holds honorary doctorate degrees from Villanova University and
Lincoln University. He is listed in Who’s Who Among Black
Americans, 1991, and Who’s Who in the Delaware Valley,
1991. The former President of the Pennsylvania Abolition
Society, he has served as director of the State Historical and
Record Advisory Board and its Black History Advisory Board and
is the former chairperson of the National Park Service
Underground Railroad Advisory Committee. In 1984, he received
the State College Football Alumni Award. Having completed a
three-year term on Penn State’s Alumni Council, he was the Afro
American Commissioner of the Governor’s Heritage Affairs
Commission; one of the founders of the Afro American Historical
and Cultural Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the recipient
of the Penn State Alumni Fellow Award (Distinguished Alumni),
and the Before Columbus Foundation Book Award.
Recently, Mr.
Blockson was included in Millennium Philadelphia: The
Last 100 Years, published by the staff of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, 1999. Among his many projects for the
new millennium, Mr. Blockson is currently working with
Philadelphia Urban League to publish a new book, A Century of
Greatness: 2000. Black History
Month Program, Del Tech, Stanton Campus, Delaware, February 20,
2001.
Coming Soon…The
History of NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act by
Charles L. Blockson. From H.R. 3863 - P.L. 105-203.
Temple
University
Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection
First Floor, Sullivan Hall
12th and Berks Mall
Philadelphia, PA. 19122
(215) 204-6632
READ MORE.
KOSTMAYER - H.R. 3863
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