A Black History Month myth

Carter G. Woodson

Jesse Moorland

Mary Church Terrell

When a nationally-known African-American radio celebrity recently was heard remarking that Black History Month was devised by whites, PT did a double-take. Huh?! Not as far as PT ever knew.

Black History Month has grown out of what began as Negro History Week, the observance of which was begun in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson had co-founded the organization in 1915 with his friend Jesse Moorland, the first Black YMCA executive in the US.

Woodson consciously selected the week in February that embraced both the day that Frederick Douglass kept as his birthday (the 14th) and the birthday of Abraham Lincoln (the 12th). Which explains why the celebration is in February in the US (it is celebrated in September in the UK).

There are earlier celebrations which may have inspired Woodson. Mary Church Terrell, activist and founder of the National Association of University Women had independently begun the practice of honoring Douglass on February 14.

The Omega Psi Phi's had also begun a celebration of Negro Achievement Week in 1924 as part of their community outreach.

Woodson, who was an Omega and a friend of Terrell's, broadened the concept in three important ways --

• He saw it as a national and not just local celebration
  
  
• He saw it as improving race relations
  
  
• He saw it as a means of undermining racist ideas of Black inferiority by disseminating popular information rooted in scholarship.

By the time of Woodson's death in 1950, the celebration was widely established. In 1976, it was expanded to a monthlong celebration by the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, as Woodson's original group had been renamed. (It is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.)

The month sparks an annual debate about its celebration. Is it useful? Is it relevant? Does it keep the larger society from integrating Black History fully into American history? Or does it help?

Whatever the outcomes of such debate, Woodson himself hope the week would eventually be eliminated as Black contributions were fully recognized in American history.

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MORE INFORMATION

Black History Month
Carter G. Woodson
Mary Church Terrell
Jesse E. Moorland
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
Association for the Study of African American Life and History

Some of Woodson's groundbreaking books are still in print:

Available at the Amazon bookstore. --

"A Century of Negro Migration"

"This provocative work by the distinguished African-American scholar traces the migration north and westward of southern blacks, from the colonial era through the early 20th century. Documented with information from contemporary newspapers, personal letters, and academic journals, this discerning study vividly recounts decades of harassment and humiliation, hope and achievement."

Available online as free downloads of the Gutenberg Project --

"A Century of Negro Migration"
"The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861"

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