Blockson Collection retraces history

Charles Blockson was the guest of honor at an event held at his collection on Main Campus last week, delivering powerful, informative speeches.

Temple student Britney Blackwell led the standing-room-only crowd with the Negro spiritual, “John Brown’s Body,” at the Main Campus’ Blockson Collection, located on the first floor of Sullivan Hall, on the 150th anniversary of the Caucasian abolitionist’s hanging.

A blend of press conference, history lesson and Baptist church ceremony, the normally quiet Blockson Collection was in for a surprise last Wednesday.

In attendance at the 2 p.m. event called “John Brown in the African Mind” was the collection’s namesake, Charles L. Blockson, who donated all the 500,000 artifacts, which date back to 1581 and include rare books, paintings and slave narratives. Blockson delivered a passionate speech on the controversial legacy of Brown, who led a violent attempt at freeing slaves in the late 1850s.

After a few kind words from the collection’s curator, Dr. Diane Turner, and Dean of University Libraries Larry P. Alford, followed by an opening prayer from Reverend Solomon Roebuck, Blockson was introduced.

Surrounded by large, lifelike statues, paintings and other artifacts in the collection, Blockson, an ex-track and -football star, who turned down a chance to play for the NFL’s New York Giants, said he considered Brown “a man of action.”

The two-hour event focused on Brown’s positive influence, such as how he led the longest trip on the Underground Railroad – traveling through Missouri, Iowa and Illinois to free slaves.

In May 1856, Brown – in his 50s and fed up with the treatment of enslaved Africans – led his first violent revolt. His efforts ended three years later when he was hanged in Charleston, N.C., with some of the 20 children he fathered, who helped with the revolts.

Blockson, a native of nearby Norristown, Pa., who wrote his first of 11 books in 1981, did not stop with his lecture on Brown.

Blockson went into great detail on the Underground Railroad. Blockson may be one of the foremost knowledgeable people on the subject: An autographed copy of National Geographic, to which Blockson contributed his familiarity with the Underground Railroad, can be seen on display at the Blockson Collection.

The collector, who is a relative of railroad leader Harriet Tubman, said his “emotional armor erupted” when he first visited her grave. He also said he just received some items belonging to Tubman, including a shawl.

But the mood was not glum, as Blockson joked that when he was younger, he envisioned the railroad being an actual “choo choo” train and then delivered a poem about the means by which blacks escaped slavery, including Blockson’s great grandparents, who escaped to Canada.

The spry Blockson, now in his 70s, also told stories of Nat Turner, who was born the same year as Brown and also led a brutal revolt resulting in his own death. The highly engaged crowd of many ages and races even included a small group that traveled from Swarthmore College to attend.

World-renowned Temple professor Molefi K. Asante was also scheduled to speak, however, he was out of the country on a trip to Africa. Asante sent one of his grad students to give a prepared speech about his thoughts on Brown’s historical relevance.

Jermar Perry can be reached at jkperry@temple.edu.

University names interim curator for Blockson Collection

Aslaku Berhanu, a reference librarian and cataloger for the Blockson Collection will succeed Charles Blockson as interim curator of the collection upon Blockson’s retirement Dec. 31.The Blockson Collection includes African American historical items dating back to 1581. Some materials in the collection include an edition of Dale Carnegie’s “Lincoln Unknown” – an autobiography of President Abraham Lincoln – in which an inscription tells the reader that the leather binding of the book was made from the skin of a lynched black man.Blockson said that Berhanu’s experience and tenure at the collection made her a good candidate for the position.Interim Provost Richard Englert described Berhanu as “the ideal person to provide care and continuity for the collection while we search for a permanent curator,” in a statement to the Temple Times.Berhanu has worked with the collection since 1988. She received a bachelor of arts in education from Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and her master of library science degree from Rutgers University.But Blockson, who donated his collection to the university in 1982, said the job of curator is not just about the books.”Everything is not in the books,” he said.It’s also a job with the community – one that takes developing a relationship with the community of scholars, researchers, students, tourists, who visit the collection year after year, he said.Both Berhanu and Blockson are members of the search committee, chaired by Vice President of Student Affairs Theresa Powell, which was formed to find a curator who will replace Blockson when he retires at the end of the year.Blockson will serve as curator emeritus and will “help out when it’s needed,” he said.”I’m committed to working with the university and the president,” Blockson added.Berhanu will take over effective Jan. 2, 2007. She could not be reached for comment because she is out of the country.Sullivan Hall up for space reviewThe president has commissioned a review of space utilization in Sullivan Hall, which houses the administrative office of the president, the Blockson Collection and Tuttleman Counseling Services. The review is underway, according to Mark Eyerly, the university’s chief communications officer.Charmie R. Snetter can be reached at charmie.snetter@temple.edu.

Community rallies for collection

He turned down the Library of Congress.To the former President of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, he politely declined. Even his alma mater, Pennsylvania State University, couldn’t persuade Charles L. Blockson to donate his storied collection of African American historical items dating back to 1581.But in 1982, one institution persuadedBlockson.That institution? Temple University.Blockson agreed 24 years ago to give the university his collection under the condition that he would serve as its curator.Breaking up the collection in any way was out of the question, as he states in his memoir, “Damn Rare.”The Blockson Collection’s first home upon arrival at the university in its centennialyear in 1984 was on the third floor of Paley Library.That year, under the presidency of Dr. Peter Liacouras, the collection was moved to rooms on the first floor of Sullivan Hall where it remains today. Liacouras said he believed that Blockson “relates beautifully with scholars, teachers, students, children at all levels of sophistication.”That is one of the reasons I placed his collection right here with me in the most prestigious building in the university. … Children can come into the same buildingthat houses the president of the universityand study their antecedents with Charles Blockson right by their side.”More than 20 years later according to Blockson, who is set to retire Dec. 31, the university’s president, Dr. Ann Weaver Hart, told him in a Sept. 18 meeting that the collection didn’t belong in Sullivan Hall. Instead, she suggested it be moved to Paley Library among other collections where it would have greater accessibilityand visibility to students and scholars alike.That didn’t sit well with Blockson.His collection, he said, belongs in Sullivan Hall and is desperately in need of space.Blockson said, at his suggestion the university agreed to form a search committee to perform a national search for a new curator to replace him upon his retirement.Dr. Theresa Powell, vice president of Student Affairs, will chair the 12-panel committee that includes Dr. Nathaniel Norment, chair of the African American Studies Department and Dr. Molefi Asante a professor African American Studies.The university also announced that it has formed the Blockson Collection EndowmentCommittee “to honor the legacy and accomplishments of Blockson by raising funds for the preservation and dissemination of his acclaimed collection.” To begin the process, the Office of the President will make a gift of $100,000.”Mr. Blockson’s contribution to the field of African American scholarship and his important collection will forever inform students on the black experience,” Dr. Hart said in a press release announcing the appointment of the committee.Blockson, however, insists that what his collection really needs is space.Books and artifacts line the floors of his personal office; other items remain in boxes for the lack of space. He continuously has had to turn down offers for newer donations.”I have not purchased any books for the last year at all because I don’t have any space,” Blockson said. “I have stopped receiving donations. I’ve refused. I tell them that I’d like to have it, but I don’t have the space for it. “Mrs. Merlyn Wilkins, who is 91 years old, was with Harriet Tubman when she died March 10, 1913. Harriet Tubman took care of her [Wilkins'] mother when she was young.”Wilkins wants to donate some of Harriet Tubman’s personal belongings to the collection, but Blockson said he told her no.”I mean, I painfully declined. I mean, who wouldn’t want something like that – HarrietTubman’s shawl that she wore. Until I have the proper space – no,” Blockson said.There is space, Blockson said, which was made available by rooms left vacant after the College of Liberal Arts moved its advising center to Liacouras Walk.That large space would be ample for his collection to spread out and be more accessible to its users, Blockson said.”This has been going on for a long time. For the past 20 years I’ve been asking for space,” Blockson said.Blockson, a recognized bibliophile, agreed to bring his collection to Temple becauseof the university’s location in the heart of a black community and its situation between The Schomburg Research Center in New York City and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C., two other prominent collections of African American historical items.”It’s an insult,” Blockson said. ” I didn’t want to go out like this,” he continued.”I’m only the custodian of the collection. “My legacy has always been to collect, preserve and disseminate.”A good portion of his collection of more than 500,000 items – including rare books, manuscripts, first edition works, archived issues of “The Philadelphia Tribune,” photographs and other artifacts are currently cramped up in boxes making them inaccessible to the public.That’s why, according to Englert in an Oct. 20 interview, “the president asked me and the head of Paley Library to look at the matter to engage in planning for replacement of Mr. Blockson [at his retirement] and to engage in the kind of space planning that needs to be done to accommodate the visibility,” of the collection, Englert said.”Sullivan is not terrifically either accessible nor visible,” Englert said.”Obviously Paley makes a lot of sense because it’s a library and the Blockson Collection is a prized collection. It’s very important that we maintain its integrity No. 1, but also that we make it accessible and visible to people who might want to use the collection,” Englert stressed.Sullivan Hall does not provide that accessibility because as an administrative building it is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, as opposed to Paley Library’s 24-hour operating schedule, Englert said.However, in an Oct. 24 interview, Mark Eyerly, the university’s chief communications officer, said “According to President Hart, if Mr. Blockson wants the collection to remain in its current location in Sullivan Hall, that will be done.”The university believes, however, there may be more accessible and visible locations for the collection and if Mr. Blockson agrees, the university will be willing to explore other alternatives.”And if Blockson doesn’t agree to other alternatives?”If Mr. Blockson said he wants the collection to stay in Sullivan, it would end the whole process of looking for a space,” Eyerly said.Many on campus and in the community aren’t buying it. And neither is Blockson.But, according to Blockson, the universityalready knows where he stands. He wants the collection to remain in Sullivan Hall.Blockson, community members and the Department of African American Studies held a rally Oct. 25 to voice their support for the collection in its current location.Blockson said he informed university officials of the rally.”I invited them [the university] to come out there to present their side because I wanted to be fair; I didn’t want to go back and forth,” Blockson said.A day after the rally, Eyerly confirmed that the university had been given an opportunity to present its side, but “it was an option that we decided we didn’t want to pursue.”"We think the rally was somewhat misinformed because the university has not made any decision regarding moving the Blockson Collection. We consider Mr. Blockson and his collectionto be a treasure to the university and the nation,” Eyerly said.Norment, chair of the African American Studies Department and Asante were present at the rally.Asante said the collection has “never received validation at this university.”The university, Asante said, will use the collection to advertise itself, but won’t promote it. In an interview before the rally, Asante said, “This just shows you how [white] people who administer this university do not understand the significance of the Blockson Collectionto the history of Philadelphia and the black community.”"As long as I am here, I will fight this struggle with you,” Asante said to the 73-year-old Blockson at Wednesday’s rally.As the event’s final speaker, Blockson told the crowd of more than 50 persons, “I will not move.”The university, Blockson said, reneged on the Paley move because of pressure.Among those at the rally was Sacaree Rhodes, a known community activist from West Oak Lane.According to Rhodes, she was at the rally “to demand justice for Mr. Charles Blockson and for the African American community and for the collection that is now housed in Sullivan Hall that should remain there.”Katrina Williams, a junior African AmericanStudies major at the rally, said the collection is “integral.”"Not only to the African American StudiesDepartment, but to the African American community,” she added.Yet, as his Dec. 31 retirement inches near, Blockson said, “I don’t want to be the victim of circumstance. I’ve said what I had to say to the university.”This is a history of the people. The collection is bigger than me, it’s bigger than Temple.”Charmie R. Snetter can be reached at charmie.snetter@temple.edu.

Historical Treasure

Most who have visited this treasured collection recognize it by the young man holding a lantern near the entrance. Or they remember feeling the cover of the 1932 edition of “Lincoln the Unkown” by Dale Carnegie, which was made from the skin of a black man who was lynched.Yet that treasure, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, remains unknown to most Temple students.Why? Because this university has never made it a priority to market the collection as it does many other entities on campus.As Blockson nears his retirement Dec. 31, the university tried to pull a fast one – suggesting that the collection isn’t visible and accessible enough to those who might want to use it because it is housed in an administrative building that is only open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It stresses that there was never an intention to move the collection, but as per yearly space reviews, it thought perhaps there was a space on campus that could better accommodate the collection while maintaining its integrity.Perhaps a change of location would achieve those goals. Not really.Why is visibility and accessibility an issue now in 2006? Why not 10 years ago?If the issue is really about those objectives, they can be achieved without moving the collection. Give the space left vacant by the College of Liberal Arts’ Advising Center to the Blockson Collection and extend its hours of operation by hiring library personnel to work the hours. Bottom line, such a collection, the fifth largest collection of African American historical items, deserves much more prominence here.Blockson, the collection’s curator, began his collection at age 14 growing up in Norristown, Pa. He could have taken his collection anywhere. But he chose here because of this campus’ location in the center of a black community and its midway location between two other major collections of African American historical items (The Schomburg Research Center in New York City and the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, D.C.).Now after pressure from the community,the university is suddenly singing a different tune. It is now says that if Mr. Blockson wants his collection to remain in Sullivan Hall, it will. So that ends the discussion right? It should.Like the curator has often said, the collection is not about him – he is simply its steward. It’s about a people and their history. It’s about our history.

Charles Blockson: educator and preservationist

One of the nation’s largest private collections of black history is housed at Temple University’s Main Campus. The Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection consists of over 150,000 African, African-American, and African-Caribbean items that date back as far as 1557.

Charles Blockson, the collection’s curator donated his collection to Temple in 1984. He felt that Philadelphia was enriched with black culture and it should be preserved.

“This is a gift to Temple University and to the world at large, it is my hope that the students and other interested persons would take advantage of the knowledge that is contained in the books and other documents,” said Blockson.

With this gift Blockson wanted to “help eliminate ignorance, because in many ways it is the worst form of slavery.”

Blockson began his collection at the age of 10. Today, it is extensively used by many; from high school students to such prestigious individuals as Bill Cosby, Alice Walker and Rosa Parks.

The collection is held in five separate rooms located on the first floor of Sullivan Hall. It includes rare books, manuscripts, sheet music, pamphlets, journals, newspapers, posters, slave narratives, foreign language publications and photographs. Also, the collection houses selected artifacts, including statues and busts.

As well as hosting this collection, Blockson also lectures at schools and organizes exhibitions and black studies programs throughout the United States. Blockson is also the chairperson of the National Park Services’ Underground Railroad Advisory Committee, where his main obligation is to preserve sites throughout Philadelphia.

“It has long been my conviction that no race of people should be deprived of the knowledge of itself,” said Blockson.

Blockson authored many books, including “The Underground Railroad: Dramatic Firsthand Accounts of Daring Escapes to Freedom,” “The Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad” and “The Underground Railroad: First Person Narratives.” His most current work is titled “African American in Pennsylvania, Above Ground and Underground.”

The collection is open for view and study between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Also, the collection can be accessed through a card catalog located in Temple’s library online computer system. Outside the collection’s main reading room, there is a permanent rotating exhibit that changes themes periodically.

On Thursday, Feb. 21, the Blockson Collection, Temple University Press, the African American Studies Department, and the University Libraries will be celebrating the book, “The Black Female Body: A photographic History,” by Deborah Willis and Carla Williams. This event will take place at the Charles Blockson Afro-American Collection in Sullivan Hall from 3 to 5 p.m.