How Black History Month Was Born in DC a Century Ago

"In a pamphlet created to promote the idea, the historian and author wrote, "Let truth destroy the dividing prejudice of nationality and teach universal love without distinction of race, merit or rank." It began as a multi-day commemoration of community-a mission to boost Black pride, respect, and self-worth at a time when people of color were being lynched in the South and racial prejudice was at a peak in the North."

"In 1915, Woodson had founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which was instrumental in organizing Negro History Week. "It was about making sure that our children and the members of our community were armed with the truth about who we were and what we had contributed to the American historical narrative," says Karsonya Wise Whitehead, president of what's now called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History."

Carter Woodson launched Negro History Week a century ago to boost Black pride, respect, and self-worth amid lynchings in the South and intense racial prejudice in the North. The week featured author talks, musical performances, theater by Black playwrights, and lectures on African American history, spreading to Detroit, Jacksonville, and Richmond. The commemoration expanded from neighborhoods to university campuses and became widely observed as Black History Month by the mid-1970s. Woodson, son of formerly enslaved parents, earned a Harvard PhD and founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, which organized the observance. His Shaw rowhouse served as a community resource now operated by the National Park Service.

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