A reflection on Dr. Carter Woodson and the Black History Month

Kobina Annan, Jr

Black history month is the pivotal time of the year when influential African Americans of history and today, who have made monumental imprints on the memory of mankind, are remembered. It is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in February.

The broad purpose of this celebration is to give American and Canadian citizens the opportunity to see and hear about those men and women whose sacrifices and visions have helped to advance human rights in these parts of the world. We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Carter Godwin Woodson was born on December 19, 1875, at

Dr. Carter G. Woodson

New Canton, VA, to parents who were former slaves.

His father supported the family on his earnings as a carpenter. As a child in a large and poor family, young Carter G. Woodson was brought up without the ordinary comforts of life. He was not able to attend school during much of its five-month term because helping on the farm took priority over formal education.

Ambitious for more education, Carter moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where he had hoped to attend the Douglass High School full time. However, Carter was forced to earn his living as a miner in Fayette County coal fields and was able to devote only a few months each year to his schooling in West Virginia.

In 1895, a twenty-year-old Carter entered Douglass High School, where he received his diploma in less than two years. He graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University 1912.

This African American scholar was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American experience and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.

Woodson, always one to act on his ambitions, decided to take on the challenge of writing black Americans into the nation's history. He established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915, and a year later founded the widely respected Journal of Negro History.

In 1926, he launched Negro History Week as an initiative to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history. From 1930-1950 Carter published books and articles about African Americans and the challenges they faced daily.

On April 3, 1950, Woodson died suddenly of an unknown cause. His legacy lives on through his publications and efforts made to help African Americans in America recognize their intellectual potential.

Other influential African American heroes recognized during black history month include Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the main leaders of the civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. Through his powerful voice he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S history.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. Unfortunately, Dr. King met an early demise..

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee while lending support to a sanitation workers' strike. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marked a significant moment in the history of the Civil Rights Movement as well as in the history of the United States. In death, as in life, Dr. King influenced millions of Americans.

Unlike Dr. King, Ms. Rosa Parks was minding her business riding a city bus home, when her actions became a major part of history. Ms. Parks a seamstress, in December of 1955, refused to give up her seat on that bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had her arrested. She was tried and convicted of violating local ordinance.

Her act of bravery which sparked a citywide boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama by blacks lasted more than a year. Over the next four decades she made it her duty to help her fellow African Americans become aware of the history of the civil rights struggle.

It was Ms. Park's bus incident that led to the formation of the Montgomery Improvement Association, then led by the young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, who happened to be Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King, Jr. The association called for a boycott. The boycott lasted 382 days and brought Mrs. Parks, Dr. King, and their cause to the attention of the world. A Supreme Court Decision struck down the Montgomery ordinance under which Mrs. Park had been fined, and outlawed racial segregation on public transportation.

There are many other stories that the black history month celebrates. It was mavericks like Dr. G Woodson that paved the way for all of us to recognize that our history should never be left forgotten.

Kobina Annan, Jr.  New York City, March 8, 2008