Younger members of the ASNLH (which later became the Association for the Study of African American History) urged the organization to change with the times, including the official shift to a month-long celebration of Black history. With the rise of the civil rights and Black Power movements in the 1960s, young African Americans on college campuses were becoming increasingly conscious of the historic dimension of their experience. This shift had already begun in some locations by 1950, when Woodson died suddenly of a heart attack at home in Washington. As early as the 1940s, efforts began to expand the week of public celebration of African American heritage and achievements into a longer event.
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The author of more than 20 books, including A Century of Negro Migration (1918), The History of the Negro Church (1921), The Negro in Our History (1922) and his most celebrated text, The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933), Woodson also worked in education, as principal for the Armstrong Manual Training School in Washington, D.C., and dean at Howard University and the West Virginia Collegiate Institute.Ĭlearly, Woodson never viewed the study of Black history as something that could be confined to a week. The house was also home base for the Associated Publishers Press, which Woodson had founded in 1921.ġ978 First rainbow Pride flag premieres at San Francisco parade The ASNLH formed branches all over the country, though its national headquarters remained centered in Woodson’s row house on Ninth Street in Washington D.C. (Lincoln’s birthday was February 12 Douglass, who was formerly enslaved, hadn’t known his actual birthday, but had marked the occasion on February 14.)Īs schools and other organizations across the country quickly embraced Woodson’s initiative, he and his colleagues struggled to meet the demand for course materials and other resources. He chose February because the month contained the birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two prominent men whose historic achievements African Americans already celebrated. In February 1926, Woodson sent out a press release announcing the first Negro History Week. But Woodson wanted a wider celebration, and he decided the ASNLH should take on the task itself. To get his message out, Woodson first turned to his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, which created Negro History and Literature Week in 1924. Like DuBois, Woodson believed that young African Americans in the early 20th century were not being taught enough of their own heritage, and the achievements of their ancestors.
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