Who Started Black History Month?

There are, I'm sure, a number of people who wonder who it was that started or came up with the idea for Black History Month. It was Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), educated at University of Chicago (1907), Sorbonne of Paris (1908) & Harvard University (Ph.D., 1912) who first proposed the second week of February be celebrated as Black History Week in 1926 to coincide with the birthday celebrations for Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. He used his research as a historian in order to formally record and recognize the numerous achievements of Blacks to world history and history of the United States. In 1976, Black History Week was expanded to cover the entire month of February. Dr. Woodson is honored with his own Christmas ornament which is hung on the White House Christmas tree annually.

One of Dr. Woodson's most famous quotes was as follows: "We should emphasize not Negro History but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race, hate & religious prejudice."

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary." Dr. Carter G. Woodson, "The Miseducation of the Negro"