This is an extraordinary book that illuminates the life and achievements of an almost forgotten educator and scholar who was a black leader although he shunned the title for himself, considering many who claimed the title were sellouts. In addition to many other achievements, he inaugurated Negro History Week which later became Black History Month. By whatever title, his was a life of achievement and inspiration and he was a great American.
As explained in Carter G. Woodson: History, The Black Press, and Public Relations, Woodson’s central insight was that black residents and community newspapers should assiduously work to document and preserve the history of the black communities they lived in and served. This insight grew out of his contention that although black history was rich in achievement, it was neglected, ignored or viewed with contempt. The corrective was education and black newspapers could play a vital role in providing that corrective. He dedicated his life to promoting that education in a variety of ways including writing books and founding seminal journals and organizations, including the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and the Journal of Negro History. At his death in 1950, he had achieved general renown. Today, outside a small group of scholars, he is largely forgotten, even by those whose self-proclaimed expertise is in black history. (In the epilogue, several anecdotes are recounted illustrating this point.)
Woodson’s life was itself a validation of his theories. Born in 1875, he was the son of former slaves His father was a Civil War veteran, an illiterate carpenter and railroad worker who taught his son that poverty “was more honorable than to serve one as a menial.” Thoroughly embracing his father’s work ethic and strong sense of morality, Woodson earned his BA from the University of Chicago and in 1912 earned his PhD from Harvard University, the second black man in that school’s history to earn the advanced degree. He went on to write 30 books and to launch Negro History Week in 1926.
Carter G. Woodson is a richly annotated work of scholarship. However, Professor Morris is a former journalist and the writing is clear and easily accessible by general readers to whom I can enthusiastically recommend it. Further, in my opinion, it should not be regulated to academia, but should be used and referred to by educators, writers and promoters of black history on every level.
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