Woodson, Carter G.

Woodson, Carter G. (Godwin) (1875–1950) historian, educator; born in New Canton, Va. Impoverished and lacking formal schooling until age 17, he went on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard (1912). He devoted his life to promoting African-American education and history in the hope of improving American race relations. He founded the Journal of Negro History (1916), the black-owned Associated Publishers press (1921), and the popular Negro History Bulletin (1937). He inaugurated Negro History Week (1926), collected and edited primary documents of black history and, a prolific author of popular and scholarly books, created widespread public interest in black history, laying the groundwork for the later development of African-American studies.