Carter G. Woodson #1463
$ 10.00
Caption from poster__
“ When you control a man’s
thinking you do not have
to worry about his actions.”
Taught to read by family members, Woodson worked as a
coal miner in West Virginia and put himself through high
school. He graduated from Berea College in Kentucky in
1903. Hired to teach English in the Philippines, Woodson
studied Romance languages through correspondence
courses. After returning to the U.S., he began teaching at
Dunbar High School in Washington, DC. In 1912 he earned
a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He was the
second African American to earn a Harvard doctorate.
Woodson was an active promoter of black education.
He founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life
and History, the Journal of Negro History, the Associated
Publishers,and Negro History Bulletin. In 1926, he began
promoting Negro History Week during the second week of
February to celebrate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and
Frederick Douglass. In the 1960s it became Black
History Month.
"We should emphasize not Negro History. but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate and religious prejudice." Professor Carter Godwin Woodson (December 19, 1875 — April 3, 1950) was an African American historian, author, journalist and the founder of Black History Month. He is considered the first to conduct a scholarly effort to popularize the value of Black History. He recognized and acted upon the importance of a people having an awareness and knowledge of their contributions to humanity and left behind an impressive legacy.
