“For bibliophile and educator Charles Blockson, the mute, simple evidence of abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s life – photographs, dinner utensils, hymnal – possess a personal power, a resonance that flows over decades.

He has maintained stewardship of these fragile relics for years, holding them, he says, in trust. Now the moment has come to place them before the larger world.

Today, Blockson will transfer his collection of 39 Tubman artifacts to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, expected to open in Washington in 2015, and Rep. Robert A. Brady (D., Pa.) will host a presentation honoring the gift and the donor at the Longworth House Office Building….”

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