This post about Carter G. Woodson wouldn’t be possible without the work of Carter G. Woodson.
Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950) was born to former slaves in the decade after the U.S. civil war. Woodson’s family was too poor for him to attend school regularly. Instead, he became a miner and tried to educate himself. At the age of 20, he enrolled in high school. At 28, he earned a bachelor’s degree. Then, a few years later, a master’s degree and finally, a PhD from Harvard. He was only the second black person to earn a PhD from Harvard (W.E.B. Du Bois being the first).
While earning his different degrees, Woodson taught in public schools in the Philippines and Washington, DC.
In 1915, Woodson established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History “to promote, research, preserve, interpret, and disseminate information about Black life, history, and culture to the global community.” The Association published The Journal of Negro History from 1916-2001, specifically targeting educators to promote the history of black people in the United States.
For his contributions, Carter G. Woodson is considered the father of black history. He was one of the first historians to focus primarily on the lives of black Americans. He gathered thousands of documents and publications that would have otherwise been ignored and possibly destroyed.
In 1926, Woodson created Negro History Week to celebrate black Americans and to include the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The week was eventually accepted and even expanded into what is now Black History Month.
His most ambitious project, Encyclopedia Africana, remained unfinished when he died at the age of 74.
TL;DR
- Carter G. Woodson was one of the first historians of black Americans.
- He created Negro History Week which became Black History Month.
What You Should Do Now:
- Read The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois.
- Read The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson.
- Do something (big or small) to celebrate Black History Month.
28 Days of Inspirational Black People:
- Ed Brooke
- Blanche Bruce
- Andrew Young
- Denys Cowan
- Antoine Fuqua
- John Singleton
- Countee Cullen
- Dennis Kimetto
- Robert Hayden
- Lee Daniels
- Anthony Mackie/Falcon
- Val James
- Abebe Bikila
- Steve McQueen
- Ernest J. Gaines
- Charlie Sifford
- Matt Baker
- Black Panther
- A.G. Gaston
- Bradford Young
- Paul Laurence Dunbar
- Guion Bluford