Woodson, Carter G. (1875–1950)

Born in Virginia, Woodson was one of the first African Americans to receive his Ph.D. from Harvard, which he did in 1912. He previously studied at Berea College and the University of Chicago, and worked as an education superintendent in the Philippines. In 1915, he cofounded the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, and established the Journal of Negro History. This work earned him recognition as one of the first scholars of black history. Woodson was one of the first academics to study black history, and wrote books including A Century of Negro Migration (1918), The Negro in Our History (1922), and Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). He lobbied to establish Negro History Week in February 1926, which evolved into Black History Month.