By Riley Wang, rw163@uakron.edu
Dr. Carter G. Woodson was an American author and historian, known to many as the “Father of Black history”, he dedicated his life to the study of African American History and the establishment Black History Month. Woodson empowered Black Americans through his writings and believed in the importance of understanding African American achievements.
Carter G. Woodson was born on December 19, 1875 in New Canton Virginia to Anna Eliza Riddle Woodson and James Woodson. Woodson's parents were former slaves and were illiterate. Carter was a hardworking boy; he helped out on the family farm and when he was a teenager he worked in the coal mines to help support the family. Carter didn’t go to elementary or middle school, but taught himself how to read and write and do arithmetic. He enrolled in high school at age 20 and completed his diploma in less than two years.
Carter G. Woodson got a bachelor’s degree from Berea College in 1903 and went to the Philippines to serve as a school superintendent. He returned to the U.S and completed a second bachelor’s degree plus a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1908. Woodson earned his doctorate from Harvard University in 1912-the second African American to do so after W.E.B. Du Bois. During the early 20th century, African American History was often overlooked, ignored and misinterpreted by history textbooks writers and school teachers. So in 1915, Woodson set out to preserve Black history and he and four others founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (later named the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), with the vision of educating the public on the achievements of African Americans and their contribution to society. The next year Woodson started the scholarly publication Journal of Negro History, (known as Journal of African American History today), with its focus on Black culture and lifestyle, a topic that was largely ignored by white publishers at the time. Woodson was also the author of more than a dozen books, most famous being Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). Woodson expressed the idea that young Black scholars are suffering from western indoctrination and encouraged his readers to be proud of their heritage and find personal empowerment. Outside of writing, Woodson found success in academic circles: dean of the College of Liberal Arts and the head of the graduate faculty at Howard University from 1919 -1920. Dean at West Virginia State College from 1920 - 1922.
In February, 1926, Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week to spread knowlege and celebrate Black influence in American history. Woodson chose February to honor Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was Feb. 12 and Frederick Douglass, who was a former slave and didn’t know his actual birth date, but chose to celebrate on Feb 14. Negro History week was later expanded into Negro History Month around the 1940s, and in 1976, 16 years after Woodson’s death, President Gerald Ford called to the American public to celebrate and observe Black History month.
Carter G. Woodson passed away at the age of 74 in Shaw, Washington D. C and was put to rest at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland. Dr. Woodson lived in a time of institutional racism and was looked down upon because of the color of his skin. He proved his oppressors wrong by graduating from Harvard University and went on to become a successful writer. Woodson’s legacy lives on every February during Black History Month when schools across the country learn about Black culture and celebrate the life of prominent Black figures in American History.
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