CARTER G. WOODSON AND THE MOVEMENT TO PROMOTE BLACK HISTORY

Carter G. Woodson pioneered in the study of black history in numerous ways. He held annual meetings of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, collected source materials, edited and published the Journal of Negro History and the Negro History Bulletin, established the Associated Publishers, and wrote and edited dozens of books, articles, and reviews. Because of his lifetime commitment to black history and the high scholarly standards he formulated, Woodson was able to attract financial support for Association activities. Thus, the formation of the Association was the first step towards institutionalized inquiry in black history.;Yet, Woodson championed more than the writing of history that accurately reflected the black past. He maintained that blacks were miseducated because black educational systems promoted white middle class culture. Woodson reached a large audience of Afro-Americans through the establishment of a systematic program of organized research, publications, and celebrations that involved both scholarly and popular audiences.;Woodson stimulated a generation of younger black scholars,who had been frustrated by the isolation imposed by segregation, to undertake sustained research and writing. Through the Association, Woodson created a small scholarly community in which black scholars could conduct and publish their research and writing and receive criticism from their peers. Woodson laid the foundations for much of the scholarship in Afro-American history during the next generation. He combined comparative methods and interdisciplinary techniques and demonstrated the importance race played as a factor in shaping international and domestic relations. In giving attention to African culture and its influence on Afro-American culture, Woodson prefigured scholarly interpretations of the 1970s. Through the editorial policy he formulated for the Journal of Negro History, Woodson combatted the racist historiography of white scholars.