Born: December 19, 1875, New Canton, VA

Education: Berea College, B.L., 1903; University of Chicago, B.A., M.A., 1908; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1912

Died: April 3, 1950, Washington, DC

Founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (1915), Woodson is revered as “the father of Negro history.” Like W. E. B. Du Bois, he is iconic in black intellectual life. He sought white philanthropic support, usually unsuccessfully. So, he raised money for projects through black churches, civic, fraternal, and social organizations; book and journal sales of Associated Publishers (1921); and his schoolteacher or college salary. When communities began observing Negro History Week (1926), which he founded, Woodson also sold kits including photographs and stories of black heroes. The annual observance became Black History Month in the 1960s.

While he aimed primarily to produce and promote historical literature, Woodson used scholarship to influence black ideology and strategy. Research, publication, and teaching would ground activism and efforts for civil rights and racial equality. A member of the NAACP and National Urban League, he supported the militant Friends of Negro Freedom, the nationalist Universal Negro Improvement Association, and “Don't Buy Where You Can't Work” boycotts. As the National Negro Congress pushed workers’ right of collective bargaining, he joined its call for black union organizing and economic solidarity. He especially promoted African American history and culture courses in schools and colleges.