Origins of Black History Month

Black History Month had its origins in the United States and was the idea of African American Scholar and educator; Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Dr. Woodson was one of the earliest Black Americans to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In 1922 at the age of 47, he gave up his distinguished career as a university professor to dedicate himself to research and writing on the African American experience.
Among Dr. Woodson's publications are The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861; History of the Negro Church; Negro Makers of History; African Heroes and Heroines; and perhaps his most famous book, The mis-education of the Negro.
Dr. Woodson argued that the African American experience was a worthy subject of study. He also called for a time when the "hidden history and culture" of American peoples could be celebrated. In 1926, Dr. Woodson declared Black History Week. February was chosen for this week because of the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. In the 1970's this call became entrenched as several Black organizations and community leaders have banded together to promote the concept of Black History Month. In Nova Scotia, the celebration of Black History Month, through the efforts of the Black History Month Association has steadily grown with more events being presented and escalating attendance figures. The celebration of Black History Month is the most enduring legacy of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a profound scholar of African American History.

  Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950), BA, MA, Ph..D., is truly a Black Hero whose philosophy and deeds should never be forgotten. He has proven to be one of the most important of the Black historians, authors, and social analysts of the 20th Century. He popularized Black History among the masses of people long before it was popular and valued. He recognized and acted upon the importance of a people having knowledge of its race and its contributions to civilization.

In June, 1909, Dr. Woodson moved to Washington, D.C. and found employment at the M St. High School, teaching French and Spanish. He moved to Washington so that he could be near the library of Congress and its vast resources. He located quarters at 1924 Eleventh St. N.W. , for he was in the process of writing his dissertation to receive his Ph.D. from Harvard. Three years later, in 1912, Harvard University awarded Woodson his doctorate. His dissertation had been, "The Education of the Negro prior to 1861", which became the nucleus of his first book, published in April, 1915. Apparently, during this time Woodson became affiliated with the recently organized Washington, D.C. branch of the NAACP, and its Chairman, Archibald Grimke. On January 28th , 1915, he wrote a letter to Grimke expressing his dissatisfaction with the way things were going. Woodson made two proposals in this letter; first, that the branch secure an office for a center to which persons may report whatever concerns the Negro race may have, and from which the Association may extend its operations into every part of the city. The second, that of which a canvasser would be appointed to enlist members and obtain subscriptions for the Crisis, the NAACP publication edited by W.E.B. Dubois, Dr. Woodson then added the daring proposal of "diverting patronage from business establishments which do not treat races alike." He wrote that he would cooperate as one of the twenty-five effective canvassers, adding that he would pay the rent for the office for one month. The NAACP did not welcome Dr. Woodson’s ideas. In a letter dated March 18th , 1915, in response to a letter from Grimke’ regarding his proposals, Woodson wrote, " I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit. It would do the cause much good. Let us banish fear. We have been in this mental state for three centuries. I am a radical. I am ready to act, if I can find brave men to help me. Apparently, his difference of opinion contributed to the short-lived affiliation with the NAACP.
On September 9th , 1915 in Chicago, Dr. Woodson met with Alexander L. Jackson, Executive Secretary of the new Negro YMCA branch. In addition to Woodson and Jackson, three other gentlemen were present; George C. Hall, W.B. Hargrove, and J.E. Stamps. At this meeting they formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and appointed Dr. Woodson, Executive Director, which he held until his death. The early years of the Association were difficult times, but it did not deter Woodson because on January 1st, 1916, he alone began to publish the Journal of Negro History, a quarterly publication. He distributed the first edition on his own initiative. The publishing of the Journal coincided with the year of the arrival of Marcus M. Garvey. In 1926, Woodson single-handedly pioneered the celebration of Black History Week, the second week in February, which has been extended to include the entire month of February. Because of Woodson’s belief in self-reliance and racial respect, it is only natural that the paths of Dr. Woodson and the Hon. Marcus Garvey would cross; their views were very similar. Woodson became a regular columnist for Garvey’s weekly Negro World.
Dr, Woodson’s political activism placed him in the eye of the storm and in contact with many Black intellectuals and activists of the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s. He corresponded with men like W.E.B. Dubois, John E. Bruce, Arthur A. Schomberg, Hubert H. Harrison, and T. Thomas Fortune to name a few. Even with the monumental duties connected with the Association, Woodson still found time to write extensive and scholarly works such as The History of the Negro Church (1922), Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), and many other books and articles as relevant today as they were when first published.
He was never one to shy away from a controversial subject, and utilized the pages of The Negro World to add his contribution to the various debates in vogue at the time. One of these debates were over West Indian- Afro-American relations. Woodson summarized that "The West Indian Negro is free." He felt that it requires time and realistic education to emancipate people. These opinions were the result of observing and approving the efforts on the part of the West Indians to inject Black materials into their school curricula. Woodson remarked that, "the highly educated Negroes thought that Woodson was wrong to invite attention especially to the race." They told Woodson that they were not Negroes or Africans, they were Americans. Woodson’s efforts to get Black culture and history into the curriculums of institutions were unsuccessful. This seems to be the reason why he left Howard University as its president.
Woodson was never deterred from his life’s work. He was truly a man of vision and understanding. He was a member of the highly EDUCATED element. The element to which he belonged by training, but not sentiment. Dr. Woodson spent his life introducing the Black race to it’s self. The Association which he started in 1915 remains today, with the Journal of Negro History still published as a quarterly magazine. Dr. Carter G. Woodson is a hero who must be canonized and remembered for generations to come.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Oil, about 1970, 40 x 30 inches

Frederick Douglass, abolitionist and government official, was born of a white father and a black slave mother in Maryland, in 1817. Despairing of his future under slavery, he escaped and found his freedom in a coastal town in Massachusetts, where he learned to read and write and to speak tellingly and with prophetic strength about his ordeals as a slave and as a runaway. The abolitionists were impressed with him, and he was heard on hundreds of platforms in the US, and in Canada and England, calling for rights for all. He opposed the colonization movement, which would have freed slaves only for the purpose of settlement in such African outposts as Liberia. He was a loud and clear advocate of the uncompromising struggle for immediate emancipation in his speeches and in the pages of his newspapers as well. He became famous, and he numbered Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth among his friends and admirers.

In later years he served his nation as diplomatic minister to Haiti and as a government official in a succession of administrations. He was Marshal in the District of Columbia for annual celebrations of freedom. He traveled and lectured widely here and abroad, and became an international figure whose judgments in speech or print were widely respected. In his life story, My Bondage and My Freedom, he wrote that "I have worked hardest to get equal rights for Negroes" but this focus "does not keep me from working to help people of all races."