Who Started Black History Month?

In 1926, Dr Carter G. Woodson initiated Negro History Week in order to bring national attention to the contributions of black people throughout American history.

Woodson, the son of former slaves, grew up working in the Kentucky coalmines. When he was 20 he enrolled himself in high school and graduated within two years.

Eventually Woodson earned a Ph.D. from Harvard. During his studies he became increasingly disturbed to find that most of the textbooks and information sources available to him lacked basic information about Black Americans. When Woodson did find information about Black Americans it was usually demeaning, reflecting the racist views of the time.

Because of his Harvard education, Woodson was in a perfect position to understand and challenge the status quo. In 1915, he established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now known as the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.) A year later he founded the widely-respected Journal of Negro History, and in 1926 he started what we now celebrate as Black History Month.