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Black History Month -- Carter G. Woodson
This is a reprise of a post I last shared during Black History Month in 2023 about a man named Carter G. Woodson, the initiator of ‘Negro History Week’, the precursor of Black History Month. This year is a strange one, as our current government is trying to completely erase the words ‘diversity’, ‘equity’, and ‘inclusion’ from the nation’s vocabulary. In years past, presidents have fully…
Ever wonder just how we got a Black History Month? Thank Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson: scholar, author, and historian --whose birthday we celebrate today. Born December 19, 1865 in Virginia to formerly-enslaved parents, Carter showed an early aptitude for languages and overcame incredible odds to graduate from Berea College (KY) in 1903. He then went on to become a languages teacher in the Philippines on behalf of the U.S. War Department, a role which also saw him traveling throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 1907 he attained an M.A. in History, Romance languages, and Literature from the University of Chicago; at that time also becoming a member of the then-new Sigma Pi Phi (ΣΠΦ) fraternity. In 1912 he received his doctorate in History from Harvard University --becoming only the second Black student to ever earn a Ph.D from that school (the first being W.E.B. Du Bois --see Lesson #1 in this series). While working towards his doctorate, Woodson taught languages in high school in Washington, D.C. --his dissertation, The Disruption of Virginia, was based on research that he was able to conduct at the Library of Congress. The dissertation concluded, in part, that the role of Black people in American history and in the history of other cultures, was being systemically misrepresented --or ignored outright-- among scholars.
Woodson's career stalled for a time after securing his Ph.D --no university would hire a Black man, which certainly tended to vindicate his findings! He eventually became principal of the Black Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington D.C., and later became a professor at Howard University, ultimately serving as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 1915 was a transformative year for Woodson --not only did he publish his first book, The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861, but also co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), which would become a lifelong commitment; in his words, to "treat the records scientifically and to publish the findings of the world" in order to avoid "the awful fate of becoming a negligible factor in the thought of the world."
Eschewing government grant money, Woodson relied solely on funding from Black communities and philanthropic organizations, and in 1926 the ASNLH launched Negro History Week --selecting the second week of February to coincide with the respective birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass (and also coincidentally the founding of the NAACP). The annual event was aimed at inspiring high schools nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs, and to host guest performances and lecturers; a goal which continues to this day with its expansion to now incorporate the entire month of February. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s, Woodson traveled all across the country, speaking at countless high schools and colleges but being particularly in demand for graduations and during the month of February. In 1933, Woodson published his last (nineteenth!) and perhaps most enduring book: The Miseducation of the Negro, and in 1937 he started The Negro History Bulletin as a resource for children and schoolteachers. Dr. Woodson died very suddenly of a heart attack in 1950, having never married nor fathered any children, but is rightly recognized today as The Father of Black History.
Black History Month -- Carter G. Woodson
Today is February 1st and, as such, is the first day of Black History Month, celebrated in the U.S. throughout the month. For literally centuries Black people have been sold into slavery, abused, brutalized, and murdered for no reason other than the colour of their skin. The saddest thing of all is that in this, the 21st century, there are still large numbers of people who believe that Black…
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Black History Month -- Carter G. Woodson
Black History Month — Carter G. Woodson
Today is February 1st and, as such, is the first day of Black History Month, celebrated in the U.S. throughout the month. For literally centuries Black people have been sold into slavery, abused, brutalized, and murdered for no reason other than the colour of their skin. The saddest thing of all is that in this, the 21st century, there are still large numbers of people who believe that Black…
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The History of Black History Month is Black History. The ASNLH should be the well known group for Black people, not the white created and white ran NAACP. Carter G. Woodson would not be happy with what we have done with this month and the lack of knowledge of Black History after all of the work that they did.
