“Carter G. Woodson”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Born in Virginia, the son of former slaves, Woodson had to put off schooling while he worked in the coal mines of West Virginia. He made it to Berea College, becoming a teacher and school administrator. He gained graduate degrees at the University of Chicago and was the second African American to obtain a PhD degree from Harvard University. Most of his academic career was spent at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where Woodson eventually served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education

Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia^[4] on December 19, 1875, the son of former slaves, Anne Eliza (Riddle) and James Henry Woodson.^[5] His parents were both illiterate and his father, who had helped the Union soldiers during the Civil War, supported the family as a carpenter and farmer. Woodson was often unable to regularly attend primary school so as to help out on the farm. Nonetheless, through self-instruction, he was able to master most school subjects.^[6]

At the age of seventeen, Woodson followed his brother to Huntington, where he hoped to attend the brand new secondary school for blacks, Douglass High School. However, Woodson, forced to work as a coal miner, was able to devote only minimal time each year to his schooling. In 1895, the twenty-year-old Woodson finally entered Douglass High School full-time, and received his diploma in 1897. ^[7]^[8] From 1897 to 1900, Woodson taught at Winona. In 1900 he was selected as the principal of Douglass High School. He earned his Bachelor of Literature degree from Berea College in Kentucky in 1903 by taking classes part-time between 1901 and 1903. From 1903 to 1907, Woodson was a school supervisor in the Philippines.

Woodson later attended the University of Chicago, where he was awarded an A.B. and A.M. in 1908. He was a member of the first black professional fraternity Sigma Pi Phi^[9] and a member of Omega Psi Phi.

He completed his PhD in history at Harvard University in 1912, where he was the second African American (after W. E. B. Du Bois) to earn a doctorate.^[10] His doctoral dissertation, The Disruption of Virginia, was based on research he did at the Library of Congress while teaching high school in Washington, D.C. After earning the doctoral degree, he continued teaching in public schools, later joining the faculty at Howard University as a professor, and served there as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Career

Convinced that the role of his own people in American history and in the history of other cultures was being ignored or misrepresented among scholars, Woodson realized the need for research into the neglected past of African Americans. Along with William D. Hartgrove, George Cleveland Hall, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History on September 9, 1915, in Chicago.^[11] That was the year Woodson published The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. His other books followed: A Century of Negro Migration (1918) and The History of the Negro Church (1927). His work The Negro in Our History has been reprinted in numerous editions and was revised by Charles H. Wesley after Woodson's death in 1950.

In January 1916, Woodson began publication of the scholarly Journal of Negro History. It has never missed an issue, despite the Great Depression, loss of support from foundations, and two World Wars. In 2002, it was renamed the Journal of African American History and continues to be published by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).

Woodson stayed at the Wabash Avenue YMCA during visits to Chicago. His experiences at the Y and in the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood inspired him to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), which ran conferences, published The Journal of Negro History, and "particularly targeted those responsible for the education of black children".^[12] Another inspiration was John Wesley Cromwell's 1914 book, The Negro in American History: Men and Women Eminent in the Evolution of the American of African Descent.^[13]

Woodson believed that education and increasing social and professional contacts among blacks and whites could reduce racism and he promoted the organized study of African-American history partly for that purpose. He would later promote the first Negro History Week in Washington, D.C., in 1926, forerunner of Black History Month.^[14]The Bronzeville neighborhood declined during the late 1960s and 1970s like many other inner-city neighborhoods across the country, and the Wabash Avenue YMCA was forced to close during the 1970s, until being restored in 1992 by The Renaissance Collaborative.^[15]

He served as Academic Dean of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute, now West Virginia State University, from 1920 to 1922.^[16]

He studied many aspects of African-American history. For instance, in 1924, he published the first survey of free black slaveowners in the United States in 1830.^[17]

NAACP

Woodson became affiliated with the Washington, D.C. branch of the NAACP, and its chairman Archibald Grimké. On January 28, 1915, Woodson wrote a letter to Grimké expressing his dissatisfaction with activities and making two proposals:

Du Bois added the proposal to divert "patronage from business establishments which do not treat races alike," that is, boycott businesses. Woodson wrote that he would cooperate as one of the twenty-five effective canvassers, adding that he would pay the office rent for one month. Grimké did not welcome Woodson's ideas.{{Citation needed|date = February 2016}}

Responding to Grimké's comments about his proposals, on March 18, 1915, Woodson wrote:

His difference of opinion with Grimké, who wanted a more conservative course, contributed to Woodson's ending his affiliation with the NAACP.{{Citation needed|date = February 2016}}

Black History Month

Woodson devoted the rest of his life to historical research. He worked to preserve the history of African Americans and accumulated a collection of thousands of artifacts and publications. He noted that African-American contributions "were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them."^[19] Race prejudice, he concluded, "is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind."^[19]

In 1926, Woodson pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week",^[20] designated for the second week in February, to coincide with marking the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.^[21] The Black United Students and Black educators at Kent State University expanded this idea to include an entire month beginning on February 1, 1970.^[22] Beginning in 1976 every US president has designated February as Black History Month.

Colleagues

Woodson believed in self-reliance and racial respect, values he shared with Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican activist who worked in New York. Woodson became a regular columnist for Garvey's weekly Negro World.

Woodson's political activism placed him at the center of a circle of many black intellectuals and activists from the 1920s to the 1940s. He corresponded with W. E. B. Du Bois, John E. Bruce, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, Hubert H. Harrison, and T. Thomas Fortune, among others. Even with the extended duties of the Association, Woodson was able to write academic works such as The History of the Negro Church (1922), The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), and others which continue to have wide readership.

Woodson did not shy away from controversial subjects, and used the pages of Black World to contribute to debates. One issue related to West Indian/African-American relations. He summarized that "the West Indian Negro is free", and observed that West Indian societies had been more successful at properly dedicating the necessary amounts of time and resources needed to educate and genuinely emancipate people. Woodson approved of efforts by West Indians to include materials related to Black history and culture into their school curricula. {{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

Woodson was ostracized by some of his contemporaries because of his insistence on defining a category of history related to ethnic culture and race. At the time, these educators felt that it was wrong to teach or understand African-American history as separate from more general American history. According to these educators, "Negroes" were simply Americans, darker skinned, but with no history apart from that of any other. Thus Woodson's efforts to get Black culture and history into the curricula of institutions, even historically Black colleges, were often unsuccessful. {{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

Death and legacy

Woodson died suddenly from a heart attack in the office within his home in the Shaw, Washington, D.C. neighborhood on April 3, 1950, at the age of 74. He is buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland.

The time that schools have set aside each year to focus on African-American history is Woodson's most visible legacy. His determination to further the recognition of the Negro in American and world history, however, inspired countless other scholars. Woodson remained focused on his work throughout his life. Many see him as a man of vision and understanding. Although Woodson was among the ranks of the educated few, he did not feel particularly sentimental about elite educational institutions.{{Citation needed|reason=April 2008|date=April 2008}} The Association and journal that he started are still operating, and both have earned intellectual respect.

Woodson's other far-reaching activities included the founding in 1920 of the Associated Publishers, the oldest African-American publishing company in the United States. This enabled publication of books concerning blacks that might not have been supported in the rest of the market. He founded Negro History Week in 1926 (now known as Black History Month). He created the Negro History Bulletin, developed for teachers in elementary and high school grades, and published continuously since 1937. Woodson also influenced the Association's direction and subsidizing of research in African-American history. He wrote numerous articles, monographs and books on Blacks. The Negro in Our History reached its 11th edition in 1966, when it had sold more than 90,000 copies.

Dorothy Porter Wesley recalled: "Woodson would wrap up his publications, take them to the post office and have dinner at the YMCA. He would teasingly decline her dinner invitations saying, 'No, you are trying to marry me off. I am married to my work'".^[23] Woodson's most cherished ambition, a six-volume Encyclopedia Africana, was incomplete at the time of his death.

Honors and tributes

Places named after Woodson

California

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Minnesota

New York

North Carolina

Texas

Virginia

Washington, D.C.

West Virginia

Selected works

See also

References

1. ^{{cite book |title=The correspondence of W. E. B. Du Bois, Volume 3 |last=Du Bois |first=William Edward Burghardt |authorlink=W. E. B. Du Bois |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |location= |isbn=1-55849-105-8 |page=282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HrGNkNrkEVEC&source=gbs_navlinks_s |accessdate=May 30, 2011}}
2. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2005/June/20080207153802liameruoy0.1187708.html |title=Carter G. Woodson, Father of Black History |first=Lerone |last=Bennett, Jr. |work=United States Department of State |year=2005 |accessdate=May 30, 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401191535/http://www.america.gov/st/diversity-english/2005/June/20080207153802liameruoy0.1187708.html |archivedate=April 1, 2011 |df=mdy }}
3. ^Daryl Michael Scott, "The History of Black History Month" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015934/http://www.asalh.net/blackhistorymonthorigins.html |date=July 23, 2011 }}, on ASALH website.
4. ^"Virginian Started Negro History Week in 1926". Norfolk (VA) New Journal and Guide, February 9, 1957, p. 11.
5. ^Betty J. Edwards, "He Made World Respect Negroes". Chicago Defender, February 8, 1965, p. 9.
6. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-carter-g-woodson/|title=NAACP {{!}} NAACP History: Carter G. Woodson|website=NAACP|language=en|access-date=2019-01-31}}
7. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-carter-g-woodson/|title=NAACP {{!}} NAACP History: Carter G. Woodson|website=NAACP|language=en|access-date=2019-01-31}}
8. ^Maurice F. White, "Dr. Carter G. Woodson History Week Founder". Cleveland Call and Post, February 16, 1963, p. 3C.
9. ^{{cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_11_59/ai_n6158341|title=1904–2004: the Boule at 100: Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity holds centennial celebration|work=Ebony|date=September 2004|accessdate=January 25, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041123041041/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_11_59/ai_n6158341|archive-date=November 23, 2004}}
10. ^"The End of Black History Month?" Newsweek, January 28, 2010.
11. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.berea.edu/cgwc/the-founding-of-the-association-september-9-1915/|title=The founding of the association September 9, 1915|first=Daryl Michael|last=Scott|publisher=Carter G. Woodson Center|accessdate=February 2, 2018}}
12. ^Claire Corbould, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1pbK61UFwvoC&q=%22particularly+targeted+those+responsible+for+the+education+of+black+children%22#v=snippet&q=%22particularly%20targeted%20those%20responsible%20for%20the%20education%20of%20black%20children%22&f=false Becoming African Americans: The Public Life of Harlem 1919–1939], Cambridge, Massachusetts/London, England: Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 88.
13. ^Karen Juanita Carrillo, African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events. ABC-CLIO, August 22, 2012, pp. 262–263.
14. ^{{cite web |title=Young Men's Christian Association - Wabash Avenue records |website=The University of Chicago Library |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/bmrc/view.php?eadid=BMRC.UIC.YMCA_WABASH.SURVEY |series=Black Metropolis Research Consortium |access-date=2018-12-01}}
15. ^"History", The Renaissance Collaborative.
16. ^{{cite web|url=http://wvstateu.edu/announcement/2015/01/29/West-Virginia-State-University-Celebrates-Black-Hi.aspx|title=West Virginia State University Celebrates Black History Month with Series of Events|date=January 29, 2015|last=Osborne|first=Kellie|publisher=West Virginia State University|accessdate=February 5, 2015}}
17. ^Charles H. Wesley, "Carter G. Woodson as a Scholar", The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 36, No. 1 (January 1951), pp. 12–24, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2715774 in JSTOR].
18. ^{{Cite book|title = On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y7mblCN5CUIC|publisher = Algonquin Books|date = January 1, 2008|isbn = 9781565124394|language = en|first = Charles E.|last = Cobb, Jr.|page = 28}}
19. ^¹Current Biography 1944, p. 742.
20. ^Corbould (2009), [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1pbK61UFwvoC&q=negro+history+week%22#v=snippet&q=%22negro%20history%20week%22&f=false p. 106.]
21. ^Delilah L. Beasley, "Activities Among Negroes, Oakland Tribune, February 14, 1926, p. X–5.
22. ^ {{cite web|last=Wilson|first=Milton|title=Involvement/2 Years Later: A Report On Programming In The Area Of Black Student Concerns At Kent State University, 1968–1970|url=http://speccoll.library.kent.edu/faculty/mwilson.html|work=Special Collections and Archives: Milton E. Wilson, Jr. papers, 1965–1994|publisher=Kent State University|accessdate=September 28, 2012}}
23. ^Jacqueline Trescott, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/02/10/black-historys-early-champion/8f69d095-15f1-459a-bf58-679d01440fe3/ "Black History's Early Champion"], The Washington Post, February 10, 1992.
24. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.socialstudies.org/awards/woodson/about |title=About the Carter G. Woodson Book Award |publisher=National Council for the Social Studies |accessdate=October 17, 2015 }}
25. ^{{cite web|title=Stamp Series |publisher=United States Postal Service |url=http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |accessdate=September 2, 2013 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810160707/http://beyondtheperf.com/stamp-series |archivedate=August 10, 2013 |df=mdy }}
26. ^Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. {{ISBN|1-57392-963-8}}.
27. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/doodles/celebrating-carter-g-woodson|title=Celebrating Carter G. Woodson|work=Google Doodles|date=February 1, 2018|accessdate=February 1, 2018}}
28. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.oaklandparkfl.org/index.asp?Type=B_EV&SEC={5BD110B8-7DD4-4AE1-A07C-043D46927297}&DE={4225AAD7-7EF2-4FD3-BF09-F068949400E4} |title=Dr. Carter G. Wilson Festival |publisher=The City of Oakland Park |accessdate=December 15, 2008 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206170723/http://www.oaklandparkfl.org/index.asp?Type=B_EV&SEC=%7B5BD110B8-7DD4-4AE1-A07C-043D46927297%7D&DE=%7B4225AAD7-7EF2-4FD3-BF09-F068949400E4%7D |archivedate=February 6, 2009 |df=mdy }}
29. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.berea.edu/cgwc/|title=Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education|publisher=Berea College|accessdate=April 1, 2013}}
30. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/carter-g-woodson-childrens-park|title=Carter G. Woodson Children's Park : NYC Parks|publisher=}}
31. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/cawo/planyourvisit/directions.htm|title=Directions – Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site|publisher=National Park Service|date=January 31, 2018|accessdate=February 1, 2018}}