By D. Kevin McNeir
Within the chronicles of African-American history, particularly within the last 100 years, many names come to the forefront: Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois and more.
But based on the intellectual prowess and academic and professional achievements of two leading Black scholars, Dr. Daryl Michael Scott and Dr. Lionel Kimble, one name that must be included in the pantheon of great minds is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
Woodson, born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Va., the son of former slaves, refused to allow his circumstances to define his future. His parents were illiterate, and his family was poor. But lessons learned from his father gave rise to a spirit of self-sufficiency that Woodson never abandoned.
“Woodson’s family owned a small plot of land, about five acres, which provided little more than the food you’d get from a small garden and is probably why he often talked about being hungry when he was a child,” said Scott, who retired from Howard University after 20 years of distinguished service. Scott is currently a professor of U.S. History at Morgan State University and chair of the Department of History, Geography and Museum Studies.
“Woodson’s father worked as a chimney mason to supplement his income and both Woodson and his brother, determined to pull their own weight, went to West Virginia to work in the mines,” Scott said.
“One could say that the family’s economic plight could have been alleviated had Woodson’s father been willing to perform certain tasks and act in a prescribed manner around whites. But he would not. He refused to ‘shuck and jive.’”
Kimble serves as associate professor of history and Africana studies at Chicago State University, and as executive director of the Research and Policy Center of the Chicago Urban League.
He said today’s youth can learn a lot about how to overcome life’s obstacles by taking a more intensive look at Woodson.
“For African Americans, Woodson, like DuBois, was a trailblazer for the Black intellectual community,” Kimble said. “In truth, Blacks love titles, and we look up to those who are successful and can serve as role models for Black youth. Yet in a contemporary sense, Woodson is not someone we know as much about as someone like DuBois. We know the month that he inspired, Black History Month, more than we know the man.
“Upon closer inspection, we find that Woodson was a man who persevered, no matter what he faced, throughout his entire life. We cannot prove it, but it’s believed that at one point he wrote most of the articles that were published in the Journal of Negro History by himself, under a pen name. And he was a teacher at his core.”
Woodson, a man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. used his ties to the organization to expand understanding of Black history. In 1924, the organization heard his call to action and created Negro History and Literature Week. Today, Woodson is widely recognized as the “Father of Black History” who began Negro History Week in 1926. The seven day time frame later expanded to February’s Black History Month, to align with the birthdays of Douglass (recognized Feb. 14) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12).
As an accomplished historian and the second Black to earn a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, Woodson dedicated his life to correcting the omission and distortion of Black history in academic and public discourse, insisting that history should focus on the accomplishments of African Americans rather than just their enslavement.
But Woodson had a zeal for knowledge that could not be quenched, leading him to establish the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) in 1915, to promote the professional research of Black history and to later found both “The Journal of Negro History” in 1916 and “The Negro History Bulletin” in 1937.
He repeatedly said in efforts to define his life’s purpose: “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.”
Scott, who served as the president of ASALH from 2013 to 2015, said his many years of service with the organization have allowed him to more intimately understand the brilliance of Woodson.
“There are some amazing stories about how Woodson read to his father and to Black Civil War veterans in the mining industry,” Scott said. “He was by all accounts, a precocious young man who had great reverence for his father and Black veterans – men who were making their way.
“And while he had several degrees, his ‘Miseducation of the Negro’ was a critique of the Black bourgeoisie. He preferred to be in the company of and to live among working folks.”
Still, as Scott stated, while it’s hard to understand how Woodson was able to continue his educational pursuits without any financial assistance, it’s not difficult to understand how he succeeded.
“Woodson was the ultimate autodidact, a self-taught man who was able to earn degrees and complete correspondence classes through his own efforts, study and research rather than through formal ,” Scott said. “That’s impressive.”
Historians point to other famous examples of autodidacts that include Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Elon Musk.
ASALH’s Members Pick Up the Torch
Kimble, now a member of the ASALH executive board, said Woodson’s work is far from finished. But he’s encouraged about the future.
“Given the recent changes that we’ve seen within the federal government, we realize that African Americans must continue to preserve our own history as Woodson did with such diligence,” Kimble said. “This is especially true for our youth. I remember conducting several lectures on Ida. B. Wells when Black Lives Matter was just being formed.
“I reminded those youth that you don’t need a crowd or a large organization to validate what you’re doing or to help you get things started,” Kimble continued. “Woodson was a one-man organization. So, it’s clear that one person can create something that leads to significant social change.”
Kimble said one lesson he has never forgotten came while he was sitting at the feet of his mentor, Dr. Daryl Michael Scott.
“Often, historians are forced to consider the things that are occurring in contemporary society,” Kimble said. “And while neither I nor Daryl can accurately speak for Carter G. Woodson, we have both spent many years studying his teachings and following many of his recommendations. Woodson had a particular way of looking at the world and it would not have been through the lens of social media, which often miseducates our youth.”
Kimble said “Woodson emphasized that to acquire knowledge, we need to follow a systematic approach and study both our past and our present. For some people–Blacks included–the past is too painful. But it’s like a child who touches a hot iron and burns their finger. You can learn a lot through pain and trauma.”
“Blacks must learn to embrace the pain as a way of adapting,” Kimble concluded. “Like Woodson and Wells, Black Americans must realize that we cannot run from the truth – we must run toward it.”