Charles Leroy Blockson, “Historian of the Underground Railroad,” died June 14, 2023, at his home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was 89 years old.
For those interested in the history of the Lykens Valley area of Pennsylvania, it was Blockson’s research that led to a new focus on how people escaping their enslavement moved through Central Pennsylvania on Underground Railroad routes that went north from Harrisburg and Reading through communities like Halifax, Millersburg, Gratz, Klingerstown and Sunbury – some staying along the way, but many finding their way north into Canada. More importantly, it was the established residents of the Lykens Valley communities that assisted in moving those seeking freedom from “station to station.”
Blockson’s obituary, written by Gary Miles, appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 23, 2023:
Charles L. Blockson, world-renowned historian of African American culture, founder and curator emeritus of the Chares L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, award-winning scholar, and prolific author, died Wednesday, June 14 [2023], at his home in Gwynedd [Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]. He was 89.
Reared in Norristown, and told by a white teacher in fourth grade that Black people had no history worthy of study, Mr. Blockson went on to assemble two of the world’s largest collections of African American history, culture, and contributions. In addition to the aggregation at Temple, the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americans and the African Diaspora resides at Pennsylvania State University, Mr. Blockson’s alma mater.
Mr. Blockson was an authority on the Underground Railroad and the Great Migration of the early 1900s and his trove of nearly a million books, documents, photographs, letters, posters, slave narratives, sheet music, original phonograph recordings, and countless other artifacts at Temple and Penn State provide uniquely comprehensive and intimate perspectives of the African American experience….
Mr. Blockson revered historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg and traveled the world to assemble his own historical collections. He visited bookstores, antique shops, and church bazaars in Norristown, Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere in search of items that revealed the history of African Americans.
Much of his research focused on activities in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania….
“He encouraged everyone to document their histories,” said Diane Turner, curator of the Blockson collection at Temple.
Charles Leroy Blockson was born in 1933 and graduated from Norristown High School. He was a Boy Scout and star in track and football. He won the shot put at the 1948 Junior Olympics and was invited to play for the NFL’s New York Giants in 1956.
He graduated from Penn State and eschewed professional football and other interests to travel the world in search of people and relics that document African American history….
“We were in awe of him,” his niece said. “He had an air of distinction. He constantly encouraged us to know about history and understand where we came from. He lived the passion.”
Previously on this blog, a review of Blockson’s book, African Americans in Pennsylvania, was provided along with an annotated map of Underground Railroad routes. See:
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Obituary excerpts from Philadelphia Inquirer. Photo cropped from Inquirer file photo by Akira Suwa.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.