BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION OG THE LIFE OF CARTER G. WOODSON

Dr. Carter G. Woodson was truly a great man; an intensely dedicated soldier in the cause of African freedom and redemption. We proudly salute and praise him, we dedicate ourselves to extending Black History Month to the entire year and the
unending and unceasing celebration, recognition and commemoration of
the global history of African people. 

Carter Godwin Woodson 

1875-1950  

Called the "Father of Negro
History," Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) was instrumental in
the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and
History in 1915. During his lifetime he was probably the most
significant scholar promoting the history and achievements of African
Americans.

Carter Woodson was born in New Canton,
Virginia, in 1875--ten years after the 13th Amendment, abolishing
slavery, was written into law. His grandparents and his father,
James, a tenant farmer, and mother, Anne, had been slaves.
Consequently, when freedom was a reality, they were poor like
thousands of newly freed families of African descent in the United
States. Because of the close ties to his family and a strong sense of
responsibility to them, Woodson worked throughout his early school
years to help support his parents and siblings. By the time he was
able to attend school, he was well past his teens.

Creative and imaginative as well as
independent at an early age, Woodson taught himself by reading avidly
in his spare time. As a result of his innate intelligence, personal
accomplishments, and dedication to learning, he was able to complete
high school. In 1903 he graduated with honors from Berea College, a
unique college in the slave state of Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea
introduced integrated education in the 19th century and thus
permitted the enrollment of African Americans. Yet Kentucky had
profited from the slave market and the psychology of its people could
not accept racially-integrated classrooms. One year after Woodson's
graduation the "Day Law" was passed, which prevented white
and African American students from being in the same classroom or
school community together. Integrated schooling became illegal. The
pernicious "Day Law" was actually enforced for nearly half
a century, a fact that was not lost on Woodson in his writings about
the social customs and laws that served as obstacles to the progress
of "the Negro race." He recorded these events as he pursued
his interests in the study of African American history.

In 1907 and 1908, respectively, Woodson
earned an undergraduate degree and his M.A. from the University of
Chicago. Just four years after completing graduate training at the
University of Chicago, he was awarded the doctorate from Harvard.
This educational background in the country's leading universities
challenged Woodson's creative imagination. He became increasingly
interested in documenting for the permanent historical record the
talents and accomplishments of the sons, daughters, grandsons, and
granddaughters of slaves.

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