Charles L. Blockson, world-renowned historian of African American culture and curator and emeritus of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University, passed away on Wednesday, June 14, Temple University reports. He was 89 years old.
Blockson was the architect behind one of the most prestigious collections of African American artifacts in the United States. Donating his collection in 1984 to Temple University, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection holds over 500,000 artifacts attributed to the global Black experience. The catalog dates between the sixteenth century and the present and contains material Blockson collected throughout his life including books, manuscripts, sheet music, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, broadsides, and more. The collection serves as an incredible resource for Temple and North Philadelphia communities, especially for students and faculty in the Department of Africology and African American Studies. Blockson also has a significant collection at Penn State University, the Charles L. Blockson Collection of African-Americana and the African Diaspora. The multidisciplinary collection contains books, magazines, photographs, manuscripts, and artifacts of the African experience in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa dating between 1632 and the present.
According to Temple, Blockson’s passion for collecting began when he attended elementary school in the Norristown area. After a substitute teacher informed him that individuals such as himself had no history, his parents made sure to introduce him to literature such as The Philadelphia Tribune, local black newspapers, the Crisis and Negro Digest magazine, and prominent work of African American men and women. This sparked his passion to build a library of Black history.
Charles L. Blockson’s legacy obituary can be found here.