Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History,” developed Black History Month. Woodson, whose parents were enslaved, was an author, historian and the second African American to earn a Ph.D at Harvard University. As the son of slaves, he spent his childhood working in coal mines and quarries. He received his education during the four-month term that was customary for black schools at the time. At the age of 19, having taught himself English fundamentals and arithmetic, Woodson entered high school, where he completed a four-year curriculum in two years. He graduated from Berea College in 1903 and went on to earn his master’s degree in history from the University of Chicago.
It was not until 1976, during the height of the civil rights movement, that former President Gerald Ford expanded the week into a federally recognized, nationwide celebration that called on all Americans to reflect on the significant roles that African Americans have played in shaping U. S. history known as Black History Month.
The story of Black History Month began in Chicago during the summer of 1915. An alumnus of the University of Chicago with many friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled from Washington, D. C. to participate in a national celebration of the 50th anniversary of emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois. Thousands of African-Americans travelled from across the country to see exhibits highlighting the progress their people had made since the destruction of slavery. Awarded a doctorate at Harvard University three years earlier, Woodson joined the other exhibitors with a black history display at the coliseum for three weeks, to an overflow crowd of 6,000 to 12,000 who waited outside for their turn to view the exhibits. Woodson was so excited by the three-week celebration that he decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study of black life and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH),
He hoped that others would popularize the findings that he and other black intellectuals would publish in the Journal of Negro History, which he established in 1916. As early as 1920, Woodson urged black civic organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were uncovering. A graduate member of Omega Psi Phi, he urged his fraternity brothers to take up the work. In 1924, they responded with the creation of Negro History and Literature week, which they renamed Negro Achievement Week. Their outreach was significant, but Woodson desired greater impact. As he told an audience of Hampton Institute students, “We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us to greater achievements.” In 1925, he decided that the Association had to shoulder the responsibility. Going forward, it would both create and popularize knowledge about the black past. He sent out a press release announcing Negro History Week in February 1926.
Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform. It is commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively. More importantly, he chose them for reasons of tradition. Since Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the black community, along with other Republicans, had been celebrating the fallen President’s birthday. And since the late 1890’s, black communities across the country had been celebrating Douglass’s birthday. Well aware of the pre-existing celebrations, Woodson built Negro History Week around traditional days of commemorating the black past. He was asking the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a new tradition. In doing so, he increased his chances for success.
Yet Woodson was up to something more than building on tradition. Without saying so, he aimed to reform it from the study of two great men to a great race. Though he admired both men, Woodson had never been fond of the celebrations held in their honor. He railed against the “ignorant spellbinders” who addressed large gatherings and displayed their lack of knowledge about the men and their contributions to history. More importantly, Wilson believed that history was made by people, not simply or primarily by great men.
He envisioned the study and celebration of the Negro as a race, not simply as the producers of a great man. And Lincoln, however great had not freed the slaves – the Union Army, including hundreds of thousands of black soldiers and sailors, had done that. Rather than focusing on two men, the black community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.