The “Father of Black History Month” The observance of Negro History Week began in 1926. Woodson’s observance became Black History Month in 1976. Woodson chose February for Negro History Week to celebrate black history and culture because it was the birth month of his heroes: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Woodson was born the son of former slaves on his father’s tobacco farm in 1875. Woodson died in 1950, at age 75. Self taught he entered high school when he was 20 and graduated two years later. He earned a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1912. In 1897 Carter G. Woodson and others established the American Negro Academy. He was a member of the Niagara Movement. Woodson also became a columnist for Marcus Garvey’s Negro World. He founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and the Journal of Negro History. The Journal of Negro History changed its name in 2002 to the Journal of African American History. Never married, He once told an associate, “I don’t have time to marry. I’m married to my work.”
Carter G. Woodson
The “Father of Black History Month” The observance of Negro History Week began in 1926. Woodson’s observance became Black History Month in 1976. Woodson chose February for Negro History Week to celebrate black history and culture because it was the birth month of his heroes: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Woodson was born the son of former slaves on his father’s tobacco farm in 1875. Woodson died in 1950, at age 75. Self taught he entered high school when he was 20 and graduated two years later. He earned a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1912. In 1897 Carter G. Woodson and others established the American Negro Academy. He was a member of the Niagara Movement. Woodson also became a columnist for Marcus Garvey’s Negro World. He founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and the Journal of Negro History. The Journal of Negro History changed its name in 2002 to the Journal of African American History. Never married, He once told an associate, “I don’t have time to marry. I’m married to my work.”