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Carter G. Woodson Taught Us To Love Ourselves
By Ralph E. Moore Jr.,
Special to the AFRO
Black History Month is universally recognized throughout the land nowadays thanks to the great Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History.” Who was this man, and how in the world did he make history so popular?
Carter Woodson, born December 19, 1875, was inspired by the times in which he lived– especially the Harlem Renaissance, a movement of his day that led to a renewed discovery of Black culture and racial pride. That period, which began in 1920, was also called the New Negro Movement. It was a social and cultural period that resulted in Blacks embracing who they were and what Blacks have done in American history. Although the Harlem Renaissance is known primarily for music, literature, especially poetry and art, Black people began to “say it loud– I’m Black and I’m proud,” figuratively two generations before soul singer James Brown literally put those words to song. Again, in the tremendous era of Black pride and public education about Black folks, Woodson gave us the celebrated month we now observe in America.
It was in 1926 that Woodson started “Negro History Week” and scheduled it for the second week of February between the birthdays of abolitionists Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
He wrote a dozen books during his career. Most notably, he authored “The Mis-education of the Negro,” in 1933.
His important writing challenged the indoctrination of white supremacy and the need for Blacks to empower themselves. Of African American participation in American life, Woodson once said, “[contributions] were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.”
Negro History Week became Black History Month in 1976. I personally love history, and for that reason, I am grateful to Carter G. Woodson. I am also thankful for those who followed behind him, authors like John Hope Franklin, author of “From Slavery to Freedom,” and now Nikole Hanna-Jones, creator of the 1619 Project. They have all taught Black people to overcome America’s history of discriminating against and denigrating African Americans.
Noted author James Baldwin wrote “An Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Y. Davis” in November 1970. In that message, he stated the following:
“The American triumph-in which the American tragedy has always been implicit-was to make Black people despise themselves.”
Woodson died of a heart attack on April 3, 1950, at 74. Still, he remains immortalized by the commemoration of Black History Month each year.
Thanks to Carter G. Woodson’s life’s work, we have learned not to believe what is negatively said about us. In fact, in the same month that Valentine’s Day is celebrated, many of us have actually learned to LOVE ourselves. And that is good.
