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| The History of Black History Month |
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The story of Black History Month begins in
Chicago during the late summer of 1915. An
alumnus of the University of Chicago with many
friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled
from Washington, D.C. to participate in a
national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of
emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois.
Thousands of African Americans traveled from
across the country to see exhibits highlighting
the progress their people had made since the
destruction of slavery. Awarded a doctorate in
Harvard three years earlier, Woodson joined the
other exhibitors with a black history display.
Chicago during the late summer of 1915. An
alumnus of the University of Chicago with many
friends in the city, Carter G. Woodson traveled
from Washington, D.C. to participate in a
national celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of
emancipation sponsored by the state of Illinois.
Thousands of African Americans traveled from
across the country to see exhibits highlighting
the progress their people had made since the
destruction of slavery. Awarded a doctorate in
Harvard three years earlier, Woodson joined the
other exhibitors with a black history display.
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Despite being held at the Coliseum, the site of the 1912 Republican
convention, an overflow crowd of six to twelve thousand waited outside
for their turn to view the exhibits. Inspired by the three-week celebration,
Woodson decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study
of black life and history before leaving town. On September 9th,
Woodson met at the Wabash YMCA with A. L. Jackson and three others
and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
(ASNLH).
Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would
transform race relations by dispelling the wide-spread falsehoods about
the achievements of Africans and peoples of African descent. He hoped
that others would popularize the findings that he and other black
intellectuals would publish in The Journal of Negro History, which he
established in 1916. As early as 1920, Woodson urged black civic
organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were
uncovering. A graduate member of Omega Psi Phi, he urged his fraternity
brothers to take up the work. In 1924, they responded with the creation
of Negro History and Literature Week, which they renamed Negro
Achievement Week. Their outreach was significant, but Woodson desired
greater impact. As he told an audience of Hampton Institute students,
“We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us
to greater achievements.” In 1925, he decided that the Association had
to shoulder the responsibility. Going forward it would both create and
popularize knowledge about the black past. He sent out a press release
announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926.
Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform. It is
commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the
birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping
black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose
birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively. More importantly, he
chose them for reasons of tradition. Since Lincoln’s assassination in
1865, the black community, along with other Republicans, had been
celebrating the fallen President’s birthday. And since the late 1890s, black
communities across the country had been celebrating Douglass’. Well
aware of the pre-existing celebrations, Woodson built Negro History Week
around traditional days of commemorating the black past. He was asking
the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a new
tradition. In doing so, he increased his chances for success.
Yet Woodson was up to something more than building on tradition.
Without saying so, he aimed to reform it from the study of two great men
to a great race. Though he admired both men, Woodson had never been
fond of the celebrations held in their honor. He railed against the
“ignorant spellbinders” who addressed large, convivial gatherings and
displayed their lack of knowledge about the men and their contributions
to history. More importantly, Woodson believed that history was made by
the people, not simply or primarily by great men. He envisioned the
study and celebration of the Negro as a race, not simply as the producers
of a great man. And Lincoln, however great, had not freed the slaves—the
Union Army, including hundreds of thousands of black soldiers and
sailors, had done that. Rather than focusing on two men, the black
community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and
women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.
From the beginning, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response to his
call. Negro History Week appeared across the country in schools and
before the public. The 1920s was the decade of the New Negro, a name
given to the Post-War I generation because of its rising racial pride and
consciousness. Urbanization and industrialization had brought over a
million African Americans from the rural South into big cities of the
nation. The expanding black middle class became participants in and
consumers of black literature and culture. Black history clubs sprang up,
teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive
whites stepped and endorsed the efforts.
Woodson and the Association scrambled to meet the demand. They set a
theme for the annual celebration, and provided study materials—pictures,
lessons for teachers, plays for historical performances, and posters of
important dates and people. Provisioned with a steady flow of
knowledge, high schools in progressive communities formed Negro
History Clubs. To serve the desire of history buffs to participate in the re-
education of black folks and the nation, ASNLH formed branches that
stretched from coast to coast. In 1937, at the urging of Mary McLeod
Bethune, Woodson established the Negro History Bulletin, which focused
on the annual theme. As black populations grew, mayors issued Negro
History Week proclamations, and in cities like Syracuse progressive whites
joined Negro History Week with National Brotherhood Week.
Like most ideas that resonate with the spirit of the times, Negro History
Week proved to be more dynamic than Woodson or the Association could
control. By the 1930s, Woodson complained about the intellectual
charlatans, black and white, popping up everywhere seeking to take
advantage of the public interest in black history. He warned teachers not
to invite speakers who had less knowledge than the students themselves.
Increasingly publishing houses that had previously ignored black topics
and authors rushed to put books on the market and in the schools.
Instant experts appeared everywhere, and non-scholarly works appeared
from “mushroom presses.” In America, nothing popular escapes either
commercialization or eventual trivialization, and so Woodson, the constant
reformer, had his hands full in promoting celebrations worthy of the
people who had made the history.
Well before his death in 1950, Woodson believed that the weekly
celebrations—not the study or celebration of black history--would
eventually come to an end. In fact, Woodson never viewed black history
as a one-week affair. He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week
to demonstrate what students learned all year. In the same vein, he
established a black studies extension program to reach adults throughout
the year. It was in this sense that blacks would learn of their past on a
daily basis that he looked forward to the time when an annual celebration
would no longer be necessary. Generations before Morgan Freeman and
other advocates of all-year commemorations, Woodson believed that
black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed
into a limited time frame. He spoke of a shift from Negro History Week
to Negro History Year.
In the 1940s, efforts began slowly within the black community to expand
the study of black history in the schools and black history celebrations
before the public. In the South, black teachers often taught Negro
History as a supplement to United States history. One early beneficiary of
the movement reported that his teacher would hide Woodson’s textbook
beneath his desk to avoid drawing the wrath of the principal. During the
Civil Rights Movement in the South, the Freedom Schools incorporated
black history into the curriculum to advance social change. The Negro
History movement was an intellectual insurgency that was part of every
larger effort to transform race relations.
The 1960s had a dramatic effect on the study and celebration of black
history. Before the decade was over, Negro History Week would be well
on its way to becoming Black History Month. The shift to a month-long
celebration began even before Dr. Woodson death. As early as 1940s,
blacks in West Virginia, a state where Woodson often spoke, began to
celebrate February as Negro History Month. In Chicago, a now forgotten
cultural activist, Fredrick H. Hammaurabi, started celebrating Negro History
Month in the mid-1960s. Having taken an African name in the 1930s,
Hammaurabi used his cultural center, the House of Knowledge, to fuse
African consciousness with the study of the black past. By the late
1960s, as young blacks on college campuses became increasingly
conscious of links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History
Week at a quickening pace. Within the Association, younger intellectuals,
part of the awakening, prodded Woodson’s organization to change with
the times. They succeeded. In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration,
the Association used its influence to institutionalize the shifts from a week
to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s,
every American president, Democrat and Republican, has issued
proclamations endorsing the Association’s annual theme.
What Carter G. Woodson would say about the continued celebrations is
unknown, but he would smile on all honest efforts to make black history
a field of serious study and provide the public with thoughtful celebrations.
Daryl Michael Scott
dms@darylmichaelscott.com
Professor of History
Howard University
Vice President of Program, ASALH
© 2009 ASALH
This copy may be republished electronically with the following acknowledgement
and link: By Daryl Michael
Scott for ASALH at www.asalh.org
convention, an overflow crowd of six to twelve thousand waited outside
for their turn to view the exhibits. Inspired by the three-week celebration,
Woodson decided to form an organization to promote the scientific study
of black life and history before leaving town. On September 9th,
Woodson met at the Wabash YMCA with A. L. Jackson and three others
and formed the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History
(ASNLH).
Carter G. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would
transform race relations by dispelling the wide-spread falsehoods about
the achievements of Africans and peoples of African descent. He hoped
that others would popularize the findings that he and other black
intellectuals would publish in The Journal of Negro History, which he
established in 1916. As early as 1920, Woodson urged black civic
organizations to promote the achievements that researchers were
uncovering. A graduate member of Omega Psi Phi, he urged his fraternity
brothers to take up the work. In 1924, they responded with the creation
of Negro History and Literature Week, which they renamed Negro
Achievement Week. Their outreach was significant, but Woodson desired
greater impact. As he told an audience of Hampton Institute students,
“We are going back to that beautiful history and it is going to inspire us
to greater achievements.” In 1925, he decided that the Association had
to shoulder the responsibility. Going forward it would both create and
popularize knowledge about the black past. He sent out a press release
announcing Negro History Week in February, 1926.
Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform. It is
commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the
birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping
black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose
birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively. More importantly, he
chose them for reasons of tradition. Since Lincoln’s assassination in
1865, the black community, along with other Republicans, had been
celebrating the fallen President’s birthday. And since the late 1890s, black
communities across the country had been celebrating Douglass’. Well
aware of the pre-existing celebrations, Woodson built Negro History Week
around traditional days of commemorating the black past. He was asking
the public to extend their study of black history, not to create a new
tradition. In doing so, he increased his chances for success.
Yet Woodson was up to something more than building on tradition.
Without saying so, he aimed to reform it from the study of two great men
to a great race. Though he admired both men, Woodson had never been
fond of the celebrations held in their honor. He railed against the
“ignorant spellbinders” who addressed large, convivial gatherings and
displayed their lack of knowledge about the men and their contributions
to history. More importantly, Woodson believed that history was made by
the people, not simply or primarily by great men. He envisioned the
study and celebration of the Negro as a race, not simply as the producers
of a great man. And Lincoln, however great, had not freed the slaves—the
Union Army, including hundreds of thousands of black soldiers and
sailors, had done that. Rather than focusing on two men, the black
community, he believed, should focus on the countless black men and
women who had contributed to the advance of human civilization.
From the beginning, Woodson was overwhelmed by the response to his
call. Negro History Week appeared across the country in schools and
before the public. The 1920s was the decade of the New Negro, a name
given to the Post-War I generation because of its rising racial pride and
consciousness. Urbanization and industrialization had brought over a
million African Americans from the rural South into big cities of the
nation. The expanding black middle class became participants in and
consumers of black literature and culture. Black history clubs sprang up,
teachers demanded materials to instruct their pupils, and progressive
whites stepped and endorsed the efforts.
Woodson and the Association scrambled to meet the demand. They set a
theme for the annual celebration, and provided study materials—pictures,
lessons for teachers, plays for historical performances, and posters of
important dates and people. Provisioned with a steady flow of
knowledge, high schools in progressive communities formed Negro
History Clubs. To serve the desire of history buffs to participate in the re-
education of black folks and the nation, ASNLH formed branches that
stretched from coast to coast. In 1937, at the urging of Mary McLeod
Bethune, Woodson established the Negro History Bulletin, which focused
on the annual theme. As black populations grew, mayors issued Negro
History Week proclamations, and in cities like Syracuse progressive whites
joined Negro History Week with National Brotherhood Week.
Like most ideas that resonate with the spirit of the times, Negro History
Week proved to be more dynamic than Woodson or the Association could
control. By the 1930s, Woodson complained about the intellectual
charlatans, black and white, popping up everywhere seeking to take
advantage of the public interest in black history. He warned teachers not
to invite speakers who had less knowledge than the students themselves.
Increasingly publishing houses that had previously ignored black topics
and authors rushed to put books on the market and in the schools.
Instant experts appeared everywhere, and non-scholarly works appeared
from “mushroom presses.” In America, nothing popular escapes either
commercialization or eventual trivialization, and so Woodson, the constant
reformer, had his hands full in promoting celebrations worthy of the
people who had made the history.
Well before his death in 1950, Woodson believed that the weekly
celebrations—not the study or celebration of black history--would
eventually come to an end. In fact, Woodson never viewed black history
as a one-week affair. He pressed for schools to use Negro History Week
to demonstrate what students learned all year. In the same vein, he
established a black studies extension program to reach adults throughout
the year. It was in this sense that blacks would learn of their past on a
daily basis that he looked forward to the time when an annual celebration
would no longer be necessary. Generations before Morgan Freeman and
other advocates of all-year commemorations, Woodson believed that
black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed
into a limited time frame. He spoke of a shift from Negro History Week
to Negro History Year.
In the 1940s, efforts began slowly within the black community to expand
the study of black history in the schools and black history celebrations
before the public. In the South, black teachers often taught Negro
History as a supplement to United States history. One early beneficiary of
the movement reported that his teacher would hide Woodson’s textbook
beneath his desk to avoid drawing the wrath of the principal. During the
Civil Rights Movement in the South, the Freedom Schools incorporated
black history into the curriculum to advance social change. The Negro
History movement was an intellectual insurgency that was part of every
larger effort to transform race relations.
The 1960s had a dramatic effect on the study and celebration of black
history. Before the decade was over, Negro History Week would be well
on its way to becoming Black History Month. The shift to a month-long
celebration began even before Dr. Woodson death. As early as 1940s,
blacks in West Virginia, a state where Woodson often spoke, began to
celebrate February as Negro History Month. In Chicago, a now forgotten
cultural activist, Fredrick H. Hammaurabi, started celebrating Negro History
Month in the mid-1960s. Having taken an African name in the 1930s,
Hammaurabi used his cultural center, the House of Knowledge, to fuse
African consciousness with the study of the black past. By the late
1960s, as young blacks on college campuses became increasingly
conscious of links with Africa, Black History Month replaced Negro History
Week at a quickening pace. Within the Association, younger intellectuals,
part of the awakening, prodded Woodson’s organization to change with
the times. They succeeded. In 1976, fifty years after the first celebration,
the Association used its influence to institutionalize the shifts from a week
to a month and from Negro history to black history. Since the mid-1970s,
every American president, Democrat and Republican, has issued
proclamations endorsing the Association’s annual theme.
What Carter G. Woodson would say about the continued celebrations is
unknown, but he would smile on all honest efforts to make black history
a field of serious study and provide the public with thoughtful celebrations.
Daryl Michael Scott
dms@darylmichaelscott.com
Professor of History
Howard University
Vice President of Program, ASALH
© 2009 ASALH
This copy may be republished electronically with the following acknowledgement
and link: By Daryl Michael
Scott for ASALH at www.asalh.org
| The ASALH Website is a project of the ASALH Publication Committee Daryl Michael Scott, Chair © 2008, ASALH Direct comments to info@asalh.net The Association for the Study of African American Life and History C.B. Powell Building, Suite C-142 | 525 Bryant Street, NW | Washington, DC 20059 Phone: 202-865-0053 | Fax: 202-265-7920 Page revised 1/4/2010 |
Founders of Black History Month