EBONY remembers Carter G. Woodson, the writer, writer, historian and activist most recognized for being the Godfather and creator of Black Historical past Month. It was Woodson’s lifelong mission to make sure that America celebrates the contributions and optimistic influence that Black People have had on all components of society.
Woodson, the descendant of enslaved folks, established The Journal of Negro Historical past in 1916 which cataloged Black folks’s tales. In 1926, he co-founded Negro Historical past Week. Woodson selected February to embody the birthdays of two nice People; Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who celebrated their birthdays within the month. President Gerald Ford formally established the month devoted to Black historical past observance in 1976.
Woodson was decided to protect and inform tales others felt had no place in American historical past. He based the Affiliation for the Research of Negro Life and Historical past. He began the scholarly Journal of Negro Historical past, which nonetheless exists, now below the title Journal of African American Historical past. He revealed greater than 20 books on Black historical past.
“It was delivered to my consideration by my mom that we’re descendants of the person who based this nice vacation,” shares Brennan Johnson, founding father of the PR company Brennan Nevada Inc. “My maternal great-grandmother, Mary Riddle Nicholas, was Woodson’s cousin.”
Having that household connection has made Brennan a connoisseur of her household legacy. “Our household helped push and finally create the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum which is a cultural establishment in St. Petersburg, Florida,” she shares. “The museum’s mission is to protect, current and interpret African American historical past and to interact a broad and various viewers by means of numerous exhibitions and occasions.”
Schooling was of utmost significance to Woodson. He saved for and graduated from highschool in lower than two years. He obtained a bachelor’s diploma in literature from Berea Faculty in Kentucky and a grasp’s from the College of Chicago. He was the second Black American to acquire a Ph.D. from Harvard College, following in W.E.B. Du Bois’ footsteps.
“Rising up in my very own family, my mom burdened and pushed my sister and I to pursue our training to the fullest. In addition to Woodson, my mom, Tina M. Johnson, is the second member in our household to obtain her Ph.D.,” Johnson shares. “My household is a bunch of go-getters like Woodson, and my sister and I had this to look as much as. In consequence we have been stellar college students all all through grade college, we each graduated from prime universities and now have thriving careers within the medical discipline and public relations business.
Following in Woodson’s entrepreneurial footsteps, Johnson’s firm, Brennan Nevada Inc., is the one New York-based Black, female-owned PR and media company for tech corporations and startups. It represents among the largest Black and minority-owned companies and founders, together with SoLo Funds, the largest Black-owned private finance firm within the U.S. “As a descendant of Carter G. Woodson, we preserve his legacy alive by telling Black and BIPOC tales for corporations that don’t often have entry to best-in-class PR companies,” she declares. “I observed there wanted to be an company that would symbolize and perceive the distinctive challenges confronted by Black entrepreneurs and tech corporations. We actively work in the direction of altering the narrative by guaranteeing that impactful tales and options from the Black group achieve the visibility they deserve.”
As Black Historical past Month involves a detailed, Johnson means that Black folks spend all yr investing of their communities. “Black folks must spend and make investments their time, cash and vitality into different Black companies and communities. That’s how we are able to begin to shut the wealth hole that retains rising bigger and bigger as time goes by,” she emphasizes. “Whether or not it’s consuming at a Black-owned enterprise, shopping for a e book from a Black writer or partnering with Black-owned suppliers to run and function your organization, we have to be so much wiser with the place we put our funds. It’s time that we help and uplift each other in each approach potential.”
