BEREA, Ky. (LEX 18) — The man known as the "Father of Black History", Dr. Carter G. Woodson, got his start as a student at Berea College in the 1800s.
Jessica Klanderud, the director of the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education, says, "From Berea, he went on to the University of Chicago where he got a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, and then famously, of course, he went on to Harvard where he was the second black man to get a Ph.D. in history behind W. E. B. Du Bois."
On campus, the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education has a wall filled with decades of history. The center's director noted some of Dr. Woodson's accomplishments — including founding the “Journal of Negro History” which would become the “Journal of African American History”, and the Association for the Study of African American life and history.
Klanderud explains, “I really hope that they can see that somebody who grew up Black, and working class in Appalachia, can do big, national, international things. And not to be thinking that their upbringing limits them in any way but really that it can be a strength."
This month, the college's archives are hosting "Friday Finds" sessions that showcase Woodson’s writing.
Head of special collections and archives, Tim Binkley, says, "My invitation in February is to come to the library and read what he wrote. What better way to honor a person that was a prolific author than to actually dive into their writings."
Binkley shared one of Woodson's more innovative pieces that tracked the lives and history of African Americans before the Civil War.
"This was really a groundbreaking work. Very few people were doing historical research on the lives and the experiences of African Americans. Who better to do it than an African American and who better to represent that history, than someone like Dr. Woodson,” says Binkley.
Jessica Klanderud says, "Black history is not just for Black people. And in fact, the more that we can learn together, the more that we can recognize the common humanity of everyone, the more those simple disagreements that get blown up into big things get diminished."
Woodson founded "Negro History Week" around the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. After his death, President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month — a celebration of Woodson’s legacy.
Students, staff, and the community are encouraged to attend the college's "Friday Finds" on the legacy of Dr. Woodson in February. For more information, click here.
