February is Black History Month and it occurred to us that, like so many of the national holidays and special focus months we collectively acknowledge, we knew little about how this celebration came about. So, we did a little research, the result being that this month we celebrate the amazing Carter G. Woodson, the Father of the Black History Month.The son of former slaves, Woodson was born in 1850 and spent his childhood working in Kentucky coal mines. He didn't begin his formal education until he was 20, but within a few years he had not only received his high school diploma but went on to the University of Chicago to earn a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree. In 1912 he became the second African American (after W.E.B. DuBois) to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard.
Disturbed to find black Americans so little represented in history, and when they were, they were represented in stereotypes of the day, Dr. Woodson used his education and ambition to educate all Americans, first in 1915 by founding the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, then in February 1926 by launching Negro History Week. He chose the month of February as it's the birth month of two men who influenced tremendously the lives of black Americans and the views of white Americans: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
Negro History Week became Black History Month during our bicentennial celebration in1976.
Dr. Woodson passed on in 1950, but he would be proud to know that this February black history is taking another stride forward as we watch a black American become a major contender in a presidential race. That's something to celebrate.
For more information, including a list of some of our most influential African American citizens, visit the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
