Black studies scholar Charles L. Blockson died at his home on Wednesday, June 14, at the age of 89. The author, historian, and bibliophile was the creator of Temple University’s Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, which features more than 700,000 material artifacts that detail the global Black experience. The Blockson archive includes information dating from the 1500s through the 21st century.
Blockson collected evidence of Black life and culture from throughout the globe. His work, which is similar to that of Harlem’s Arturo Schomburg, was also inspired by a rejection of the notion that Black people did not have a history worthy of being told.
After his white fourth grade teacher told him Blacks had no history, Blockson’s parents exposed him to books and lessons about Black history. He started collecting a lot of the information he came across and always said he was inspired by the establishment of New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
