Carter Woodson, the lion's historian

FEBRUARY 26
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter. Ethiopia, Benin, Ghana, and Togo (Ewe)

1926 - Carter G. Woodson announced “Negro History Week".













If you studied Black history at school, consider yourself lucky. For those of us who went to school decades ago, Britain and Europe seemed to be the only countries with history. So we knew a lot about the dysfunctional Tudors and Stewarts of Britain, and the murderous Borgias of Italy, but nothing about people of colour. It seemed Black people just had roles in the backdrop of Tarzan and Phantom comic strips, or as cartoon characters in B-grade movies.

Carter Godwin Woodson did his best to change those concepts of race. Woodson was a Black American historian, author, and journalist who is known as the Father of Black History.

He was the son of former slaves and was not able to attend school regularly because his family was so poor. So he taught himself and was ultimately able to earn a first degree in literature. He later gained his MA and in 1912 was awarded a PhD from Harvard University.

His research into Black history began because he felt that scholars were ignoring or misrepresenting that area of study. He wrote several books on Black history, and published journals that continue to be published today.

Woodson was a member of the faculty of Howard University, and left because of difference with the president. He then spent the rest of his life researching and preserving Black history, until then ignored by historians. He was also a regular contributor to Marcus Garvey’s newspaper, and strongly supported efforts by Caribbean people to include Black history and culture in school curricula.

In 1920 he founded the oldest Black American publishing company in the United States. In 1926, he single-handedly pioneered Black History month, originally Negro History Week – the second week in February.