Formal study of the black past followed History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 (1882), by ex-Union soldier and pastor George Washington Williams, and A School History of the Negro Race in America, from 1619 to 1890 (1890), by North Carolina educator Edward A. Johnson.

Negro history evolved as a field in the early 1900s. Atlanta University professor W. E. B. Du Bois hosted annual research conferences, publishing sixteen historical and sociological Studies of the Negro Problem (ca. 1899–1910) that inspired much inquiry. Carter G. Woodson, the “Father of Negro History,” made recovery of the black experience his lifework. He founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) in 1915 and the Journal of Negro History (JNH) in 1916. Woodson critically defined black historiography and mentored its noted researchers and scholars. To promote race pride as well as “to convince all that we have a heritage,” he established “Negro History Week” (1926) and the Negro History Bulletin for juvenile readers (1937). His scholarly contributions helped lay the groundwork for Black Studies in the 1960s. Afro-American replaced Negro in ASNLH's official name by 1972. African American is used in the names of its Journal and Bulletin today.