This year, Black History Month will mark 100 years of educating Americans about the history of the African-American community. During the past century, Black History Month has evolved from an observance into an American institution — and it all started with Carter G. Woodson, a determined historian with an idea.
Born in 1877 to formerly enslaved parents in Virginia, Woodson's early schooling was sporadic at best, and had to delay his high school education until age 20 to work in a coal mine. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree in literature in 1903, and graduate degrees from the University of Chicago in 1908. And in 1912, he became the second African-American student (after W.E.B. DuBois) to earn a doctorate from Harvard University.
Disappointed with the limited career opportunities for African-American history scholars and the absence of any structured Black history research program in higher education, Goodson decided to create his own. He founded the ASLNH, now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. And in 1926, Goodson promoted a new big idea — Negro History Week, which grew into today's Black History Month.
The celebration has evolved and expanded over the years, but the central idea remains unchanged: that African-American history is inseparable from the American story, and a scholarly pursuit worth fighting for.
