The Film: Interview Transcripts: Charles Blockson

Charles Blockson, historian on
his personal journey
My journey actually began when I was ten years old, when I heard my grandfather singing a song, a spiritual, in my home town in Norristown, Pennsylvania. One Sunday afternoon, I asked him what he was singing about.  He said he was singing about the Underground Railroad.  The spiritual was “There’s a High Way to Heaven, Walking up the King’s High Way,” and he told me that his father, James Blockson -- my great-grandfather -- escaped on the Underground Railroad.  He was a slave over in Delaware and he made his way into Pennsylvania, and then up to Canada. Two years later, his cousin, Jacob Blockson, escaped.  He later met the famous William Still, who recorded and documented his escape from Delaware into Philadelphia and then he went on to Canada.  I have other relatives who remain in Canada.  So, the Underground Railroad had been a part of my life since I was 10 years old.  Years later, I began to collect books and other documents pertaining to African-American people.  I had a growing interest in the Underground Railroad, and in the 1970s I began to compile a book on Pennsylvania’s black history. I went into every county in the state of Pennsylvania, and I published the book in 1975, just before the Bi-Centennial.  In 1981, I realized a lot of the information I received from the various counties documented their connection with the Underground Railroad.  So, I again traveled throughout the state and published another book in 1981, called The Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania.  It was the first book of the sort. 

slave revolts

slavery and the Liberty Bell

Pennsylvania’s UGRR

children and the UGRR

preserving UGRR sites