“This is the meaning of Negro History Week. It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History week. We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or
“This is the meaning of Negro History Week. It is not so much a Negro History Week as it is a History week. 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, and religious prejudice. There should be no indulgence in undue eulogy of the Negro. The case of the Negro is well taken care of when it is shown how he has influenced the development of civilization.”
—– Carter Godwin Woodson, “The Celebration of Negro History Week, 1927,” Journal of Negro History, April 1927.
February 2016 marks the 90th anniversary of a unique ritual in American and world history. For the next month, America will be challenged to contemplate the global and national journey and achievements of its African-descended residents. The ritual was born and driven by the single-minded devotion and sacrifice of Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950), a son of formerly enslaved parents who defied American Apartheid to acquire a Harvard Ph.D., using it with remarkable efficiency to create organizations and rituals that continue to shape our struggle for intellectual liberation.
Contrary to the (sadly) popular joke, February was not “given” to Black America for celebrating our history because it is the shortest month of the year. Woodson chose the second week in February for the celebration of “Negro History Week” because it contained the birthdays of the major symbols of the intertwined fates of Africans and th