Hello, and
welcome to our celebration of Black History Month! TheVillageCelebration
produces content all year devoted to recognizing African Americans value and
perspective – in every aspect of American society – and, we are particularly
excited to share our stories during February.
Some critics
have decried the selection of February as Black History Month, noting it is the
shortest month of the year. So why February?
Dr. Carter
G. Woodson, who was a dedicated advocate of African American success, chose
February because the great abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, and President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation
Proclamation ending slavery, were born in the second week of February. Both
Lincoln and Douglass played pivotal roles in Black history.
Woodson knew
about overcoming obstacles. Born in 1875 to former slaves, his education was
hit-or-miss in the early years because he worked in the coal mines of his home
state, West Virginia, to help supplement his father’s income.
At the age
of 20, Woodson started high school. His desire to acquire an education
propelled him through high school in two years. He then taught school and
became a principal. Eventually, he attended college in Kentucky where he earned
a Bachelor’s degree, obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago
and his Ph.D from Harvard – making him the second Black American to do so after
W.E.B. DuBois.
When the
American Historical Association appeared disinterested in studying Black
Americans’ contributions and barred Woodson from attending its conferences
despite having paid his dues, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro
Life and History in
1915.
Woodson
started his national observation of Black History with one week. In time his
concept was expanded to an entire month. The noted and admired historian and
author died from a heart attack in 1950.
