Often called the "father of Black history", Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) was an American historian and scholar. He is the only person in history with parents enslaved in the U.S.A. to obtain a Ph.D., which he received from Harvard University. He also was the dean of Howard University.
Woodson was born on a farm in New Canton, Virginia. His parents, former slaves, were both illiterate but encouraged education and self-improvement in all their children. Woodson was unable to attend school regularly but taught himself as a child. At 17, he worked in coal mines to afford an education at Douglass High School.
Woodson would go on to earn his Bachelor's in Literature from Berea College, a Bachelor's and a Master's in the Arts from the University of Chicago, and finally his Ph.D. in history at Harvard University in 1912.
Despite his qualifications and brilliance, Woodson found that that mainstream history was not interested in neither Black history nor Black historians--he couldn't find work as a university professor and was not allowed to attend conferences of the American Historical Association. Seeing the institutional obstacles, Woodson desired to create an institution that did value Black history.
He founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) in Chicago, published multiple books, and started the Journal of Negro History (now the Journal of African American History). Woodson believed that history belonged to all people, and made an effort to reach outside of academia to women's groups, civic leaders, fraternal organizations, the clergy, and more. Woodson saw the collection and dissemination of Black history as essential activism in a world that attempted to ignore and deny it and was important for all people. He wanted "the world see the Negro as a participant rather than as a lay figure in history".
In 1926, Woodson pioneered "Negro History Week" which, in 50 years, become Black History Month. Its purpose was to
"emphasise not Negro History, but the Negro in History. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hatred and religious prejudice".
His sister was Bessie Woodson Yancey, the subject of tomorrow's post. Happy Black History Month, everybody!
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