History of the Founder of Black History Month: Carter G. Woodson

[Stephan Bobb]

History of the Founder of Black History Month: Carter G. Woodson

Olusheyi Banjo

Carter G. Woodson

*Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950) was an African-American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African He was one of the first scholars to value and study Black History. He was a founder of the Journal of Negro History. Dr. Woodson is known as the Father of Black History.

Dr. Woodson devoted the rest of his life to historical research. He worked to preserve the history of African Americans and accumulated a collection of thousands of artifacts and publications.

He noted that African American contributions “were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them Race prejudice, he concluded, “is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind.”

In 1926, Woodson single-handedly pioneered the celebration of “Negro History Week” for the second week in February to coincide with marking the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The week was later extended to the full month of February and in 1976 and renamed Black History Month.

Happy Black History Month!