Carter G. Woodson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carter G. Woodson about 1895

Carter Godwin Woodson (born December 19, 1875 in New Canton , Virginia , † April 3, 1950 in Washington, DC ) was an American historian . He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History on September 9, 1915 and the Journal of Negro History a year later , making the study of African American history a specialist discipline of history as one of the first scholars . Therefore he is also known as the "father of black history". With the “Negro History Week” he called the Black History Month in 1926 , which is celebrated every February until now.

Life

youth

Woodson was born on December 19, 1875 in Buckingham County , Virginia . His parents were former slaves James and Eliza Riddle Woodson. His father was helping Northern Soldiers during the Civil War and moving to West Virginia with his family when he heard that a high school was being built in Huntington for Blacks.

Carter Woodson's family was big and poor, so he couldn't go to school regularly. By self-study he mastered the basics of the school standards of the time at the age of 17. He sought further education and went to Fayette County to earn a living as a miner in the coal fields and could only spend a few months of the year on his schooling.

In 1895, at the age of 20, Woodson entered Douglass High School , where he graduated in less than two years. From 1897 to 1900 Woodson taught in Winona , Fayette County. In 1900 he was elected principal of Douglass High School. In addition, he earned a Bachelor of Literature from Berea College in Kentucky by 1903 by studying part-time between 1901 and 1903.

Career in science

From 1903 to 1907 Woodson School was a supervisor in the Philippines . He later went to the University of Chicago , where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (AB) and a Master of Arts (AM) in 1908 . He was a member of the first black fraternity Sigma Pi Phi (ΣΠΦ) and Omega Psi Phi (ΩΨΦ) at Howard University . In 1912 he earned his PhD in history from Harvard University as the second African American after WEB Du Bois . His dissertation, The Disruption of Virginia , was based on research he did at the Library of Congress while teaching a high school in Washington, DC. Even after his graduation he continued to teach in public schools, only later was he appointed as professor at Howard University , where he also became dean of the College of Arts and Sciences .

Convinced that the role of African-American history and the history of other cultures had been misinterpreted in science, Woodson saw the need to explore the neglected past of African Americans. Together with Alexander L. Jackson , Woodson published The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 in 1915 . In the same year he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (September 9, 1915) in Chicago with William D. Hartgrove, George Cleveland Hall, Alexander L. Jackson and James E. Stamps .

During his visits to Chicago , Woodson stayed at Wabash Avenue YMCA . His experiences in the YMCA dormitory and in the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood led him to found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 . The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History ) hosted conferences, published The Journal of Negro History, and specifically targeted those in “responsibility for the education of the black children ”. Further inspiration came from the 1914 book by John Wesley Cromwell : The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent .

Woodson believed that education and increased social and professional contacts between blacks and whites would reduce racism, and he advocated organized study of African-American history. He later organized the first Negro History Week in Washington, DC (1926), a forerunner of Black History Month . The Bronzeville Neighborhood-fell during the 1960s and 1970s like many other core city -Neighborhoods in America and even the Wabash Avenue YMCA had in the 1970 close. However, it was re-established in 1992 by The Renaissance Collaborative .

Woodson served as Academic Dean of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute , the forerunner of West Virginia State University , from 1920 to 1922 .

He wrote:

“If you can control a man's thinking, then you don't have to worry about his actions. If you can determine what a man thinks, then there is no need to worry about what he will do. If you can get a man to think he is inferior, then you don't have to force him to assume an inferior status, but he will do so without being told and if you can convince a man to that he is rightly a criminal then he will not be asked to take the back door, but he will take the back door of his own free will and if there is no back door then this man's nature will demand that one build one . "

engagement

The above-mentioned establishment of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1915 is merely an activity of the "Father of Black History". As can be seen from Carter G. Woodson's titles at the bottom of his list of his writings, he has done many things for African American people.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Woodson was also involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He joined the local branch in Washington DC and was primarily in contact with its chairman Archibald Grimké . On January 28, 1915, Woodson wrote a letter to Grimké expressing his dissatisfaction with the group's activities and making two suggestions:

  1. That the local association should set up an office for a center that everyone can turn to and that all concerns of the black race are looked after and from which the association should expand its work into all parts of the city; and
  2. That a recruiter should be appointed to attract members and subscribers to The Crisis , the NAACP magazine published by Du Bois.

Du Bois added to the proposal to “divert patronage from business establishments which do not treat races alike”, ie to boycott companies. Woodson offered that he would be willing to be one of the 25 recruits needed and that he would pay the rent for a month. However, Grimké was not interested.

In response to Grimké's comments on his proposal, Woodson wrote on March 18, 1915:

“I am not afraid of being taken to court by white business people. On the contrary, I would be happy about such a trial. It would encourage the very process. Let's get rid of fear. We have lived in this state of mind for three centuries. I am a radical. I am ready to act as long as I find courageous men to help me. "

His disagreements with Grimké, who steered a more conservative course, led Woodson to terminate his membership in the NAACP.

Black History Month

Woodson devoted the rest of his life to historical research. He fought to preserve the history of the African Americans and collected thousands of artifacts and publications. He wrote that African-Americans' works were "overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.) Racial prejudice, he concluded, is "mainly the logical result of tradition, the inevitable result of profound instruction with the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind" (is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind).

In 1926, Woodson started the Negro History Week celebration. The celebrations were rescheduled for the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass . It was only on 1 February 1970, however, called Black United Students and Black Educators at the Kent State University to Black History Month to life. Six years later, Black History Month was celebrated in educational institutions across the country. Based on Black Culture and Community Centers , President Gerald Ford honored Black History Month during the United States Bicentennial celebrations . He urged that people should "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of ​​endeavor." throughout our history).

colleagues

Woodson shared his beliefs with Marcus Garvey , a Jamaican activist who worked in New York. Woodson became a regular columnist for Garvey's weekly magazine Negro World .

Woodson's political activism placed him at the center of a circle of black intellectuals and activists from the 1920s to the 1940s. He corresponded with WEB Du Bois, John Edward Bruce , Arturo Alfonso Schomburg , Hubert Harrison and Timothy Thomas Fortune . Even during busy periods, such as while working at the Association, Woodson took time to write academic works such as The History of the Negro Church (1922), The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), and others.

Woodson did not shy away from controversy either, and used the Black World sites to contribute to debates. One issue related to West Indian / African-American relations. He summarized: "the West Indian Negro is free" (the West Indian Negro is free). He observed that the West Indian societies had been much more successful in raising the time and resources necessary to educate and emancipate people. In addition, they had included materials on black history and culture in their school curricula.

Woodson was condemned by some of his contemporaries for defining a category of history by its relation to ethnicity and race. Contemporary educators felt it was wrong to contrast African-American history as a separate story from general American history. According to this view, “Negroes” were simple Americans, with darker skin but with no history of their own. Accordingly, Woodson's efforts to introduce Black Culture and History into the curricula of educational institutions have often been unsuccessful, even at historic Black Colleges . Today, African-American Studies are specialized fields of research in history, music, culture, literature, and other subjects; in addition, more emphasis is placed on African-American contributions to American culture in general. The United States government celebrates Black History Month.

legacy

Carter G. Woodson died suddenly of a heart attack in his home office in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC on April 3, 1950, at the age of 74. He is buried in the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland , Maryland .

The introduction of Black History Month is Woodson's most eye-catching legacy. However, his dedication to researching the role of the Negros in American and world history has inspired countless other scholars. The association and magazine that he started in 1915 continue to exist and are now firmly established in the intellectual world.

Woodson also did other wide-ranging activities. In 1920 he founded the Associated Publishers , the oldest African-American publisher in the United States. He also created the Negro History Bulletin for elementary and high school teachers (since 1937). His standard work The Negro in Our History had its 11th edition in 1966 and was sold more than 90,000 times. Woodson's favorite project, a six-volume Encyclopedia Africana , was unfortunately unfinished when he died. Apparently no iron was too hot for him. Here are two examples. First, the historian published a paper on African-American slave owners in the United States in 1830.

Second, he ended his collaboration with Archibald Grimké (1849–1930) of the NAACP after Grimké had rejected Woodson's proposals for dealing with whites from the US business community as too radical.

Carter Woodson's view of history met with opposition from even some fellow African American historians. The popular belief in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century was that African Americans did not need to be allowed a story of their own as researched by Carter Woodson because they were Americans and nothing more.

Fonts (selection)

  • A century of negro migration . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1918, OCLC 79947665 (English, archive.org ).
  • The Education of the Negro prior to 1861 . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1919, OCLC 593592787 (English, handle.net ).
  • The history of the Negro church . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1921, OCLC 506124215 (English, handle.net ).
  • The negro in our history . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1922, OCLC 506124204 (English, archive.org ).
  • Free Negro owners of slaves in the United States in 1830, together with Absentee ownership of slaves in the United States in 1830 . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1924, OCLC 802300957 (English, archive.org ).
  • Free Negro heads of families in the United States in 1830. Together with a brief treatment of the free Negro . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1925, OCLC 176986298 (English).
  • Preview of Negro orators and their orations . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1925, OCLC 703518974 (English, worldcat.org ).
  • The mind of the Negro as reflected in letters written during the crisis, 1800-1860 . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1926, OCLC 558188512 (English, handle.net ).
  • Negro makers of history . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1928, OCLC 558190211 (English, handle.net ).
  • African myths and folk tales . Dover Publications, Mineola (New York) 1928, OCLC 853448285 (English, worldcat.org ).
  • The Rural Negro . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1930, OCLC 613261827 (English, handle.net ).
  • The Mis-Education of the Negro . Dancing Unicorn Books, Lanham (West Virginia) 2017, OCLC 987740119 (English, historyisaweapon.com - original title: The Mis-Education of the Negro . 1933.).
  • The Negro professional man and the community, with special emphasis on the physician and the lawyer . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 1934, OCLC 612967753 (English, handle.net ).
  • The African background outlined. Or, Handbook for the study of the Negro . Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, DC 2006, OCLC 219632552 (English, uchicago.edu [ DJVU ] Original title: The African background outlined. Or, Handbook for the study of the Negro . 1936.).
  • African heroes and heroines . Associated Publishers, Washington, DC 1939, OCLC 643987347 (English, handle.net ).

Honors

Places named after Woodson

Carter Woodson biographical cartoon, Charles Alston 1943.

California :

  • Carter G. Woodson Elementary School in Los Angeles .
  • Carter G. Woodson Public Charter School, Fresno .

Florida :

Georgia :

  • Carter G. Woodson Elementary in Atlanta .

Illinois :

Indiana :

  • Carter G. Woodson Library in Gary .

Kentucky :

Louisiana :

Maryland :

  • Carter G. Woodson Elementary in Crisfield .
  • Dr. Carter G. Woodson Elementary in Baltimore .

Minnesota :

  • Woodson Institute for Student Excellence in Minneapolis .

New York :

  • PS 23 Carter G. Woodson School in Brooklyn .

North Carolina :

Texas :

Virginia :

Washington, DC :

West Virginia :

  • Carter G. Woodson Jr. High School (formerly McKinley Jr. High School until 1954) in St. Albans (1932).
  • Carter G. Woodson Avenue (9th Avenue) in Huntington.

swell

literature

  • Derrick P. Alridge: Woodson, Carter G. In: Simon J. Bronner (ed.): Encyclopedia of American Studies. Johns Hopkins University Press 2015. online .
  • Pero Gaglo Dagbovie: The Early Black History Movement, Carter G. Woodson, and Lorenzo Johnston Greene. University of Illinois Press 2007.
  • Jacqueline Anne Goggin: Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History. LSU Press 1997.
  • August Meier, Elliott Rudwick: Black History and the Historical Profession, 1915–1980. University of Illinois Press 1986.
  • A. Roche: Carter G. Woodson and the Development of Transformative Scholarship. In: James Banks (ed.), Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Teachers College Press 1996.

Web links

Commons : Carter Godwin Woodson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ about: Association for the study of the life and history of African American people
  2. ↑ also: The Journal of African American History - Journal of African American History (1916-2001)
  3. ^ Lerone Bennett Jr. (1928-2018): Father of Black History
  4. ^ "Virginian Started Negro History Week in 1926". Norfolk (VA) New Journal and Guide , February 9, 1957: 11.
  5. ^ Betty J. Edwards, "He Made World Respect Negroes". Chicago Defender , February 8, 1965: 9.
  6. ↑ Maurice F. White, "Dr. Carter G. Woodson History Week Founder." Cleveland Call and Post , Feb 16, 1963: 3C.
  7. ↑ 1904–2004: the Boule at 100: Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity holds centennial celebration | Ebony
  8. ^ "The End of Black History Month?" Newsweek , Jan. 28, 2010.
  9. ^ Daryl Michael Scott: The founding of the association September 9, 1915 . Carter G. Woodson Center. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  10. ^ "Particularly targeted those responsible for the education of black children". Claire Corbould: Becoming African Americans: The Public Life of Harlem 1919–1939 , Cambridge, Massachusetts / London, England: Harvard University Press 2009: 88.
  11. ^ Karen Juanita Carrillo: African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events . ABC-CLIO, Aug 22, 2012: 262-263.
  12. ↑ "Young Men's Christian Association - Wabash Avenue Records" ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Black Metropolis Research Consortium, University of Chicago. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bmrcsurvey.uchicago.edu
  13. ^ "History," The Renaissance Collaborative.
  14. ^ Kellie Osborne: West Virginia State University Celebrates Black History Month with Series of Events . West Virginia State University. January 29, 2015. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  15. ↑ "If you can control a man's thinking, you don't have to worry about his actions. If you can determine what a man thinks you do not have to worry about what he will do. If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don't have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told and if you can make a man believe that he is justly an outcast, you don 't have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one. "
  16. ↑
    1. That the branch secure an office for a center to which persons may report whatever concerns the black race may have, and from which the Association may extend its operations into every part of the city; other
    2. That a canvasser be appointed to enlist members and obtain subscriptions for The Crisis , the NAACP magazine edited by WEB Du Bois.
  17. ^ I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit. It would do the cause much good. Let us banish fear. We have been in this mental state for three centuries. I am a radical. I am ready to act, if I can find brave men to help me. Charles E. Cobb, Jr .: On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail . Algonquin Books, Jan 1, 2008, ISBN 9781565124394 , p. 28.
  18. ↑ a b Current Biography 1944 : 742.
  19. ^ Corbould: p. 106th 2009.
  20. ↑ Delilah L. Beasley: Activities Among Negroes. In: Oakland Tribune , February 14, 1926: X – 5.
  21. ↑ Milton Wilson: Involvement / 2 Years Later: A Report On Programming In The Area Of Black Student Concerns At Kent State University, 1968-1970 . In: Special Collections and Archives: Milton E. Wilson, Jr. papers, 1965-1994 . Kent State University . Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  22. ^ President Gerald R. Ford's Message on the Observance of Black History Month . In: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum . University of Texas . Retrieved February 14, 2012.
  23. ↑ Dorothy Porter Wesley recalled: "Woodson would wrap up his publications, take them to the post office and have dinner at the YMCA. He would teasingly decline her dinner invitations saying, 'No, you are trying to marry me off. I am married to my work. ' "Jacqueline Trescott, " Black History's Early Champion " , The Washington post , February 10, 1992.
  24. ^ Charles H. Wesley: Carter G. Woodson as a Scholar , The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 36, No. 1 (January 1951), pp. 12-24, in JSTOR . See also in this article under Writings the literature from 1924
  25. ↑ "for the most distinguished social science books appropriate for young readers that depict ethnicity in the United States." About the Carter G. Woodson Book Award . National Council for the Social Studies. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  26. ^ Molefi Kete Asante: 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia . Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books 2002. ISBN 1-57392-963-8 .
  27. ^ Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education. Berea College April 1, 2013.
  28. ↑ bcps.us.
  29. ↑ artsandsciences.virginia.edu.
  30. ↑ edited by Arvarh E. Strickland. Robert L. Harris of Cornell University described it as "one of the few documents that provide insight into the early growth of the field of Afro-American history and the life of Woodson". Harris, Robert L. (Cornell University) (1991). "Review of Working with Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History: A Diary, 1928-1930". The Journal of American History. 77 (4): 1400-1401. doi: 10.2307 / 2078364. ISSN 0021-8723. JSTOR 2078364.


personal data
SURNAME Woodson, Carter G.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Woodson, Carter Godwin (full name); Woodson, CG
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American historian
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH New Canton , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1950
Place of death Washington, DC