Carter Godwin Woodson " Among last picture's taken of Woodson in the library surrounded by his books" Dorothy Porter Wesley (Photo by Robert P. Scurlock)
CARTER GOODWIN WOODSON (1875-1950)
This son of former slaves, James (who helped the Union soldiers, and when he heard they were building a high school for blacks in Huntington moved his family to West Virigina) and Eliza (Riddle) Woodson, was born December 19, 1875, at New Canton in Buckingham County, Virginia. One of a large poor family, he could not attend regularly such schools as were provided, but he was able, largely by self-instruction, to master the fundamentals of common school subjects by the time he was seventeen.
Hoping to further his education, Carter and his brother, Robert Henry, moved to Huntington, West Virginia. But he was forced to earn his living as a miner in the Fayette County coal fields. Not until 1895 was he able to enter the Douglass High School in Huntington, where he won his diploma in less than two years. He received his high school certificate with creditable grades. It is thus easy to understand that he earned the degree of Litt. B. from Berea College, Kentucky, in 1901, after two years of study.
In his career as an educator, he served as principal of the Douglas High School, Supervisor of schools in the Philippines, teacher of languages in the high schools of Washington, D.C., and Dean of the Schools of Liberal Arts at Howard University and West Virginia State College. Ever a seeker for more knowledge, he earned the B. A. degree and the M.A. degree in 1908 from the University of Chicago, and the Ph.D. degree in history in 1912 from Harvard University, the second African-American is receive such a degree. A year of study in Asia and Europe, including a semester at the Sorbonne, and his teaching and travels abroad, gave him a mastery of several languages. He taught in the Philippines following the Spanish-American War and the U.S. occupation of the former Spanish colony. He received a grant from Laura Spelman Rockefeller for a study of the 1830 census and listed the blacks who had owned slaves.
Convinced by this time that among scholars the role of his own people in American history and in the history of other cultures was being either ignored or misrepresented, Dr. Woodson realized the need for special research into the neglected past of the Negro. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, founded in Chicago September 9, 1915, is the result of this conviction. In the same year appeared one of his most scholarly books, The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 (1915), A Century of Negro Migration (1918) and The History of the Negro Church (1927), and The Negro in Our History which underwent numerous editions and was revised by Charles Harris Wesley after Woodson's death in 1950. The following year, in January 1916, Dr. Woodson began the publication of the scholarly Journal of Negro History which, despite depressions, the loss of support from Foundations and two World Wars, has never missed an issue. The Journal publishes works of black and white scholars who research and write about people of color. Other works by Woodson include The Mind of the Negro as Reflected in Letters Written During the Crisis, 1800-1860 and The Mis-Education of the Negro.
A chronicle of Dr. Woodson's far-reaching activities must include the organization in 1920 of the Associated Publishers, the oldest 'Afro' publishing company in the country, to make possible the publication of valuable books on the Negro not then acceptable to most publishers; the establishment of Negro History Week in 1926; the initial publication of the Negro History Bulletin: the voice of the Association which has maintained continuous publication since 1937; it was created for teachers in elementary and high school grades; the direction and subsidizing of research in Negro History by the Association; and the writing of numerous articles, monographs and books on the Negro. The Negro in Our History, now in its eleventh edition, has sold more than 90,000 coopies. Dr. Woodson's most cherished ambition, a six volume Encyclopedia Africana, was not completed at the time of his death April 3, 1950. Nevertheless, any encyclopedia of the Negro will have to rely heavily upon the writings of Dr. Woodson, upon the Journal and the Bulletin and upon the other publications of those whom he encouraged and inspired.
For his scholarly works and publications, Dr. Woodson is accorded a place among ranking historical schools of the nation and the world.
In 1992, the Library of Congress held an exhibition entitled "Moving Back Barriers: The Legacy of Carter G. Woodson". Woodson donated 5,000 items from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to the Library. Dorothy Porter Wesley stated that "Woodson would wrap up his publications, take them to the post office and have dinner at the YMCA. He would teasingly decline her dinner invitations saying "No, you are trying to marry me off. I am married to my work".
Woodson founded Negro History Week. It officially became Black History Month in 1976.
