Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and
later as "Black History Month.
" What you might not know is that black history had barely begun
to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated....
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Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as "Negro History Week" and
later as "Black History Month.
" What you might not know is that black history had barely begun
to be studied-or even documented-when the tradition originated.
Although blacks have been in
America at least as far back as colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a
respectable presence in the history books.
Blacks Absent from History Books
We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black
history, to Dr.
Carter G.
Woodson.
Born to parents who were former slaves, he spent his
childhood working in the Kentucky coal mines and enrolled in high school at age twenty.
He
graduated within two years and later went on to earn a Ph.
D.
from Harvard.
The scholar was
disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the black American populationand when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that
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