Black History Month

February is National Black History Month.  Dr. Carter G. Woodson is credited with its founding and is considered the Father of Black History Month. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), the son of former slaves James and Eliza (Riddle) Woodson, was born on a small farm in New Canton, Virginia, worked in coal mines, and attended the local school when he could.  He eventually went to Berea College in Kentucky, earned a B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1907 and attended Sorbonne University in Paris in 1908 where he became fluent in French. He received a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University in 1912, becoming only the second African-American to earn such a degree at that time.
 
Dr. Woodson was a regular columnist for Marcus Garvey's weekly publication--the Negro World. He also was the founder, in Chicago in 1915, of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.  In the same year he founded the Journal of Negro History--a publication still in existence.  He was also the author of more than thirty books. Probably Woodson's best known book is The Mis-Education of the Negro, originally published in 1933 and still relevant today. 
 
In 1926 Woodson initiated the annual February observance of Negro History Week. He chose February for the observance because February twelfth was Abraham Lincoln's birthday and February fourteenth was the accepted birthday of Frederick Douglass. By the 1970s, Negro History Week had expanded to become Black History Month.
 
One of many notabale quotes by Woodson --
"In the long run, there is not much discrimination against superior talent" -- Carter G. Woodson 
 
What are your thoughts on National Black History Month this year? 
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