Collection: Dr. Carter G. Woodson: The Eternal Flame of Black History

(Displayed Item: (Autographed) The Negro in Our History by Carter G. Woodson, Sixth Edition 1931)

Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson is not just a name in the annals of Black history; he is one of its fiercest architects, a master builder of Black consciousness, and the reason we even have a framework for celebrating our past with purpose. Known rightfully as the “Father of Black History,” Dr. Woodson dedicated his life to dismantling the lies and omissions that sought to erase the contributions of African descendants in America and around the world.

Born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, to formerly enslaved parents, Dr. Woodson knew the weight of history firsthand. His early life was marked by hard labor and limited access to formal education. He didn’t complete high school until he was nearly 20 years old, but once he began, there was no stopping him. A voracious learner and deeply committed to truth, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Berea College in Kentucky, then went on to study at the Sorbonne in Paris before becoming the second Black American (after W.E.B. Du Bois) to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912.

But let’s be clear, his time at Harvard wasn’t a celebration. It was a revelation. Despite his brilliance, Woodson saw how Black people (our ancestors, our heroes, our genius) were either completely ignored or portrayed through distorted, dehumanizing lenses in American historical scholarship. It was a history written without us. So he made it his mission to correct that.

Dr. Woodson understood that when a people are robbed of their history, they are robbed of their power. He believed history was not just about facts and dates, but about liberation. That knowledge of self was the first step toward self-respect, pride, and action. In 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), to promote scholarly research on Black life, culture, and contributions.

And in 1926, Dr. Woodson launched Negro History Week, the forerunner to what we now honor as Black History Month. He chose the second week of February deliberately, aligning it with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two figures widely respected in the Black community. But make no mistake, this was not about appeasing white America. It was about leveraging the cultural momentum in Black communities to celebrate ourselves, by ourselves, for ourselves.

Negro History Week was not just a week of celebration, it was an act of resistance. It was Woodson’s response to a system that tried to bury our brilliance. He wanted teachers, churches, newspapers, and everyday Black folk to center our achievements, our courage, our humanity.

Dr. Woodson was a revolutionary with a pen. His seminal work, The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), is still a blueprint for mental emancipation. He challenged us to reject the lie that we were ever inferior and to build institutions that reflected our truth.

So, when you scan this Q-code and stand before this exhibit, know this: you are walking in the legacy of a man who made it his life’s work to make our history known; not just to the world, but to ourselves. Dr. Carter G. Woodson gave us the tools to see our past with clarity and our future with pride.

Let us never forget: history is not just what happened. It is what we choose to remember, to reclaim, and to rise from.

All Power to the People!!!