Students are now learning new lessons. They may be reading texts from Black authors. They could be studying slavery in social studies. Young people are learning about the Black men and women who have shaped the United States. It is Black History Month.
Black History Month happens every February. But when did it begin? And why is it in February? The reason is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
Woodson was born in Virginia in 1875. His parents had been enslaved. Neither could read or write. As a teenager, Woodson moved to West Virginia. He worked in a coal mine. But Woodson wanted to learn.
In the 1800s, Black students could not go to school with white students. And there were only a few Black high schools in West Virginia. Woodson saved up his money. Finally, at age 20, he could pay for high school. He graduated in 1896.
Woodson became a teacher and a principal. And he continued learning. Woodson studied literature, then worked at a school in the Philippines. He got two degrees from the University of Chicago. Then he got a from Harvard University. Only one other Black person had ever done that before.
In 1915, Woodson and four others formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Today the group is called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson taught Black history and culture. He worked at Howard University. And he wrote books. Then he had another idea.
Woodson created Negro History Week in 1926. He decided it should be in February. That’s because two important people were born then. One was Abraham Lincoln. The U.S. president helped end slavery. The other was Frederick Douglass. He was a top .
“It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History Week,” explained Woodson. “We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in History.”
Woodson’s idea has grown. In 1986, Congress said February was National Black History Month. Today, people call him the “Father of Black History.”
Woodson died in 1950. But his lives on in the lessons from Black history every February.
Updated January 31, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)
