Where did Black History Month come from?
by Denise Holladay Damico
January 31, 2020
Mural of Carter G. Woodson on 9th St. NW in Washington, D.C. 
closeup of Carter G. Woodson mural 
NMAH Archives Center Scurlock Studio Records 0618 Series 1 Box 1.1.A4 folder -Dr. Carter G Woodson-ca. 1948 a side view of Woodson seated at desk
Have you ever wondered where Black History Month came from?
Black History Month began as Negro History Week in 1926, during both the Harlem Renaissance and the so-called “nadir of American race relations.”
Its founder, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, was a famous African American historian and only the second African American (after W.E.B. Du Bois), to receive a doctorate from Harvard University.
“Woodson believed that black history was too important to America and the world to be crammed into a limited time frame.”
-Daryl Michael Scott, “Origins of Black History Month.”
In 1915, Dr. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
Sources:
- Daryl Michael Scott, “Origins of Black History Month,” Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
- “Carter G. Woodson,” wikipedia