The Untold Stories of Excellence

To begin this treatise about the African-American and his/her historic development in America, it is important to make note of the fact that there is someone in African-American history who has devoted much of his life to the recordation and preservation of our history for the world to see and to know, and that is Carter G. Woodson, historian, educator, author, and publisher, who was born in 1876 in New Canton, Virginia. He was the son of freed slaves. Carter Woodson worked as a sharecropper and a miner to help his family. Despite his ever present dilemma, he began high school in the late teens and proved to be an excellent student. Carter Woodson went on to college and earned several degrees, including that of a doctorate from Harvard University in 1912, becoming one of the first African-Americans to earn a Ph.D. at the prestigious institution. After finishing his education, he dedicated himself to the field of African-American history, working to make sure that this subject was taught in schools and was studied by scholars. For his efforts, Carter Woodson is often referred to as the “Father of black History.”