| In 1915
Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and
History for modern scholarly research in the history of blacks at
home and abroad. This field of study had been neglected or distorted in
the hands of historians who accepted the stereotypical and traditional
images propagated by white Americans and Europeans. In 1916
Woodson edited the first issue of the association's principal scholarly
publication, The Journal of Negro History, which, under his
direction, remained an important historical periodical for more than 30
years.
Woodson was dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and head of the graduate faculty at Howard University,
Washington, D.C. (1919-20), and dean at West Virginia State College,
Institute, W.Va. (1920-22). While there, he founded and became president
of Associated Publishers to bring out books on black life and culture,
since experience had shown him that the usual publishing outlets were
rarely interested in scholarly works on blacks. To focus attention on
black contributions to civilization, he founded (1926) Negro History Week,
which was expanded in the 1960s to Black History Month.
Woodson had his first book published in
1915,
The Education of the Negro Prior to
1861. Other important
works by Woodson include the widely consulted college text
The Negro in
Our History (1922; 10th ed., 1962); and
A Century of Negro
Migration (1918). He was at work on a projected six-volume Encyclopaedia
Africana at the time of his death.
Published in 1933,
his book
The Miseducation of the Negro
is still considered as a
classic in the discipline of Black Studies. Single-handedly, Dr. Woodson,
through these writings and his organizational ability, promoted and
insured the viability of Black history in schools and colleges in this
country. He was convinced that if a race had no recorded history, its
achievements would be forgotten or ignored, and eventually claimed by
others.
On April 3, 1950, Woodson died at the age
of 74. At his death, according to Lerone
Benett, Woodson, the father of African
American History "had erected millions of monuments to
his own memory in the hearts and minds of his people."
Woodson became a devout Christian at an early age
and recognized the invaluable role the black church plan in the
community. He spent his life promoting the principle that all
races are equal and each is deserving of respect. He said, "One
race has not accomplished any more than any other race, for God
could not be just and at the same time make one race the inferior
of the other." |
