Woodson, Carter G.

Best known as the “father of Black history,” Carter G. Woodson stands as one of the imminent [Page 946]Black intellectual figures of the last two centuries. He integrated his interest in Black life with curriculum study. Woodson was a teacher, scholar, author, publisher, and organization administrator, and many contemporary scholars view Woodson's ideas as antecedents to Black studies and even multicultural education. Additionally, he was an acerbic and indefatigable critic of the curriculum offered African Americans in (segregated) schools.

Woodson was born December 9, 1875, to impoverished former slaves in New Canton, Buckingham County, Virginia. Attending elementary school only a few months per year, the mostly self-taught young man completed a 4-year high school curriculum in less than 2 years. He subsequently attended Berea College (Kentucky), became a high school principal, and completed the baccalaureate in literature. The University of Chicago graduate school would not recognize his Berea degree, forcing Woodson to earn another bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1907. His subsequent University of Chicago master's thesis in 1908 examined French diplomatic relations with Germany in the 18th century. Moving on to Harvard, Woodson's 1912 doctoral dissertation on secession was entitled The Disruption in Virginia. He became the first African American of slave ancestry and only the second African American, after W. E. B. Du Bois, to receive the PhD from Harvard.

World travels took him to Europe, where he spent a full semester at the Sorbonne studying French; North Africa; and Asia where he worked for the U.S. Bureau of Insular Affairs as General Superintendent of Education in Manila, Philippine Islands. Fascinated with research, he sought employment in Washington, D.C., to be near the Library of Congress. His teaching résumé included courses in English, health, agriculture, U.S. history, French, and Spanish at local Washington, D.C., high schools.

Failing to get his dissertation published, he tired of academic politics and set out to organize a community of scholars committed to research Negro history. In 1915, Woodson, with associates George C. Hall, J. E. Stamps, W. B. Hartgrave, and A. L. Jackson, met at a downtown Chicago YMCA to establish the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) later changed to the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH). Founded as a historical society to exclusively research Black America, the association's plan was that the organization be ideologically and politically independent. In 1916, the association established its first organ, a quarterly, the Journal of Negro History.

The school curriculum, especially history, soon became the focus of Woodson's attention. He evolved a philosophy about Black history. He wanted to free Black history from White intellectual bias, instead presenting Blacks as active participants in history. Additionally, he wanted both Black and White people to be exposed to the hidden contributions of Blacks. Negro history should be a part of the school curriculum. Finally, Woodson saw value in James Robinson's “new” history that asserted that history could serve social change.

Financing the ASNLH proved difficult because member dues were never sufficient. Woodson raised some funds from White corporate philanthropists; however, frequent disagreements and accusations of “radicalism” forced him into compromised situations and embarrassing requests that he declare his loyalty to U.S. capitalism. His passion became obsession as he worked tirelessly to protect and promote the ASNLH. Woodson never married or fathered children, and friends and supporters noted that Woodson took on assorted jobs and worked day and night for his association.

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