Dr. Carter G. Woodson: Major Contributor to Establishing Black History Month

The celebration of Black History Month and more importantly, the study of black history is due to the hard work and efforts of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Woodson is widely known as the father of African American Studies in the United States. During his lifetime, he did more to advance the field of study of black history than any other person did.

Carter Goodwin Woodson was born December 19, 1875 in New Canton, Virginia. He was the oldest of nine children. His parents were former slaves. He attended the local school during part of its five-month term due to having to help the family by working odd jobs. He was largely self-taught. After working in the coalmines for several years, he entered the segregated Douglas High School in Huntington, Virginia and earned his diploma in 1896.

While he worked as a teacher, he studied at Berea College in Kentucky where he graduated with a B. Litt in 1903. He proceeded to enroll in the University of Chicago and after teaching in the Philippines for four years; he received his B.A. in 1907 followed by his M.A. in 1908. He then became a student at Harvard where he obtained a Doctorate in history in 1912.

After he completed his Harvard dissertation, which was entitled " The Disruption of Virginia", he began his life's work which was the discovery, recordings and circulation of the history of black people in the U.S. and Africa. He was established as an authority on black history with the publication of his first book in 1915 called Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. He went on to write fifteen additional books.

In 1915, Dr. Woodson organized the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The quarterly journal associated with it called the Journal of Negro History, the first edition was in January 1916. In 1921, he founded Associated Publishers Inc, his own publishing firm. In 1936, he founded the monthly Negro History Bulletin, which provided information on African American history to the public, schoolteachers, and schoolchildren.

One of the most important accomplishments he made was when he began promoting Negro History Week during the second week in February to celebrate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass; it eventually became Black History Month in the 1960's.

He never married and had very few outside interests. He contributed anonymously to such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He continued to work in his chosen field until he passed away in his apartment of a heart attack on April 3, 1950.