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“Willing to Sacrifice” Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black

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“Willing to Sacrifice” Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black “WILLING TO SACRIFICE” CARTER G. WOODSON, THE FATHER OF BLACK HISTORY, AND THE CARTER G. WOODSON HOME WOODSON HOME NATIONAL HISTORIC SI TE HISTORIC R ESOURCE ST UDY PERO G AGL O DAGB OVIE PR EPARED UNDER COOP ERATIVE AG REEMEN T WI T H T HE ORGANIZATION OF AME RICAN H IS TOR IANS National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior National Capital Region History Program National Captal Parks—East April 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Epigraph iii Preface v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) and the Development of the Black Historical Enterprise 9 Chapter Two: Woodson’s Life in the Nation’s Capital and the Woodson Home 41 Chapter Three: “Because of his selfless dedication to the work of the Association”: Negro History Week, Woodson’s “Mass Education Movement,” and The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933) 77 Chapter Four: Chipping Past Woodson’s “forbidding exterior”: “The Father of Negro History” Remembered 99 Conclusion: Reflections and Recommendations from the Principal Investigator; Unpacking Woodson’s Personality Traits and Character 145 Glossary 167 Bibliography 175 Appendices Appendix A: Oral Histories 185 Appendix B: Woodson Chronology 227 Appendix C: Books by Carter G 243 Appendix D: Manuscript Collections 247 Appendix E: Photographs Related to Woodson 249 Appendix F: Annual Meetings 269 i One of the most inspiring and instructive stories in Black history is the story of how Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, saved himself for the history he saved and transformed. The skeletal facts of his personal struggle for light and of his rise from the coal mines of West Virginia to the summit of academic achievement are eloquent in and of themselves … For in an extraordinary career spanning three crucial decades, the man and the history became one — so much so that it is impossible to deal with the history of Black people without touching, at some point, the personal history of Carter G. Woodson, who taught the teachers, transformed the vision of the masses and became, almost despite himself, an institution, a cause, and a month. One could go further and say that the systematic and scientific study of Black history began with Woodson, who almost single-handedly created the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) and the prestigious Journal of Negro History. Not content with these achievements, he ventured into the field of mass education, creating annual Black history celebrations. What makes this so remarkable is that Woodson created these cultural monuments largely by his own efforts. —Lerone Bennett Jr., “Still on the Case: Carter G. Woodson, Father of Black History” (February 1999) ii PREFACE The aim of this generation should be to collect the records of the Negro and treat them scientifically in order that the race may not become a negligible factor in the thought of the world. —Carter G. Woodson, 1939 Do not wait until the last moment to prepare for Negro History Week. The time is nigh at hand. Secure the necessary literature at once and begin to plan immediately to demonstrate to the community what you and your coworkers have learned about the Negro during the year. For free literature write to C. G. Woodson, 1538 Ninth St., N.W., Washington, D.C. —Carter G. Woodson, 1940 This Historic Resource Study is about Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950)—his life, work, contri- butions, and legacy—and the historical evolution and significance of the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, located at 1538 Ninth Street NW in Washington, D.C. From 1922 until 1950, this three-story Victorian-style row house served as the thriving headquar- ters for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) and Associated Publishers, Inc., as well as Woodson’s modest “office home.” The nucleus of the early black history movement, the house represented a black historical, cultural, and intellectual hub for the vibrant Shaw neighborhood (dubbed “Black Broadway”). In a tribute to Woodson as “the father of black history,” The Residence of the Phyllis Wheatley Y.W.C.A. (901 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D.C.), referred to him using a house metaphor: “We deeply appreciated having known Dr. Woodson, who was truly ‘The House by the Side of the Road.’” After earn- ing a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1912 during an era of widespread Jim Crow segregation, Woodson, his ASNLH co-workers, a diverse group of black scholar-activists, and other contributors to the early black history movement (spanning 1915 to 1950) promoted the study of African Americans’ past and published a significant body of historical scholarship on Afro-diasporic and African American history. Woodson and his colleagues challenged racism in U.S. popular culture and the ivory towers of the American academies, laid the foun- dations for the rigorous scientific study of African American history, and, equally important, were committed to teaching and popularizing black history throughout black communities. Woodson’s actions, and those of his co-workers, foreshadowed the motto of the National Council of Black Studies, “Academic Excellence, Social Responsibility.” An extraordinary organizer and motivator with a herculean work ethic (an eighteen-hour workday seemed routine for him), Woodson was a quintessential educational reformer and innovator who used history as his vehicle for generating far-reaching social and cultural change. The central figure in the early black history movement, Woodson was born to the former slaves James Henry and Eliza Riddle in New Canton (Buckington County), Virginia, on December 19, 1875. Though they were landowners and homeowners, the Woodson family was similar to many other poor landowning blacks and sharecroppers. As a child, Woodson grew up on his father ten- to twenty-acre farm, and, like many black youth who came of age iii during the immediate post-Reconstruction period or “the nadir” (1877 through the early 1900s), he attended a rural school for only about four months out of the year. At the dawn of the 1890s, he hired himself out as a farmworker and manual laborer and drove a garbage truck in Buckingham County, Virginia. In 1892 Woodson moved to Fayette County, West Virginia, to work in the coal mines. While working in the mines, he met a black Civil War veteran named Oliver Jones, who introduced him to books by pioneering amateur, self-trained black histori- ans such as George Washington Williams, J. T. Wilson, and W. J. Simmons. At the age of twenty in 1895, Woodson moved to Huntington, West Virginia, to live with his parents. He attended Frederick Douglass High School from 1895 to 1896, and in the fall of the following year he ventured to Berea College in Kentucky. Before receiving a bach- elor of laws degree from Berea on June 3, 1903, he educated the children of black miners at a school in Winona, West Virginia, (receiving a teacher’s certificate in May 1901), and from 1900 until 1903 he returned to Frederick Douglass High School to teach history and serve as the principal. From mid-December 1903 until early February 1907, Woodson worked in the Philippines for the U.S. War Department. Woodson then traveled around the world to Africa, Asia, and Europe, spending roughly half of a year in Europe. He briefly attended the Sorbonne and studied European history. After returning from Europe, Woodson enrolled at the University of Chicago and in the summer of 1908 he received a master’s degree in histo- ry, romance languages, and literature. Woodson then enrolled at Harvard University as a doctoral student. In 1909 he left Cambridge and settled in the Washington, D.C. area teach- ing first at Armstrong Manual Training School and then at the prestigious M Street High School, where he taught French, Spanish, English, and history. After earning his doctorate from Harvard University in 1912 at the age of thirty-seven, Woodson, who “was almost nineteen before he had learned the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic,” published his first book, The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861 (1915) and established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). The association—which he co-founded in Chicago on September 9, 1915, with George Cleveland Hall, James E. Stamps, and Alexander L. Jackson—resolved that they would collect records pertaining to black America’s past and disseminate the truth about African American history. In 1918 Woodson published his second major monograph, A Century of Negro Migration, and became the principal of Armstrong Manual Training School, where he advocated vocational and classical education and inaugurated an adult education program. From 1919 until 1920 he served as the dean of Howard University’s School of Liberal Arts, and from 1920 until 1922 he served as a dean at West Virginia Collegiate Institute. In 1921, while he was a dean at Howard, he published his third major monograph, The History of the Negro Church, wrote an unpublished manuscript, “The Case of the Negro,” that was redis- covered in 2005, and founded Associated Publishers, Inc., the first major scholarly press for research on black history. After founding the ASNLH, he also became active in black organi- zations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, the Friends of Negro Freedom, and the Committee of 200. A scholar-activist, Woodson at times consciously strove to separate his radical political philos- ophy and black liberation ideologies from his scientific scholarship. During the early 1920s Woodson was what we call today a “multitasker.” He was directing the ASNLH, editing a journal, and managing Associated Publishers, Inc.
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