Black History Month and Berea College
Black History Month and Berea College
By Dr. Linda Strong-Leek, Provost
“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” Dr. Carter G. Woodson
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Dr. Linda Strong-Leek[/caption]
Berea College is honored to celebrate Black History Month not only because we were the first interracial, coeducational college in the South, founded before the end of the Civil War, in a state that once held enslaved people; but also because one of our most distinguished alumni, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, is the reason we have Black History Month! Dr. Carter G. Woodson is also the founder of African American Studies as an academic discipline.
Known as the “Father of Black History,” Dr. Carter G. Woodson enrolled in Berea College in 1897, and graduated with a Bachelor of Literature degree in 1903. Woodson continued his education first at the University of Chicago, where he received two additional bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s Degree in European History in 1908. And in 1912, Woodson became the second African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University (W.E.B. DuBois was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. From Harvard University). Woodson is best known for his work as the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro History and Life (The Association for the Study of African American History and Life), and his seminal work as a scholar of African American history. As we celebrate African American History, we celebrate Dr. Woodson. And we must also remember that African American History is woven deeply into the fabric of the American experience.
For example, Garrett Morgan created the three position traffic signal; Sarah Boone, who was once an enslaved person, improved the ironing board, and she was one of the first black women in US history to receive a patent; Mary Van Brittan Brown devised an early security unit for her own home, creating a path for many of today’s home security systems, and Frederick McKinley Jones created the refrigerated truck. So much of what we currently take for granted as “American” ingenuity is indeed, American—African American—and we must acknowledge the great contributions African Americans have made to the society in which we live. In these difficult times when the rhetoric of the day seeks to divide us as a nation, let us remember the work of our esteemed alumnus, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and all of the African Americans and other people of color in this nation who have made the world a better place for all Americans.
Dr. Linda Strong-Leek[/caption]
Berea College is honored to celebrate Black History Month not only because we were the first interracial, coeducational college in the South, founded before the end of the Civil War, in a state that once held enslaved people; but also because one of our most distinguished alumni, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, is the reason we have Black History Month! Dr. Carter G. Woodson is also the founder of African American Studies as an academic discipline.
Known as the “Father of Black History,” Dr. Carter G. Woodson enrolled in Berea College in 1897, and graduated with a Bachelor of Literature degree in 1903. Woodson continued his education first at the University of Chicago, where he received two additional bachelor’s degrees and a Master’s Degree in European History in 1908. And in 1912, Woodson became the second African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University (W.E.B. DuBois was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. From Harvard University). Woodson is best known for his work as the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro History and Life (The Association for the Study of African American History and Life), and his seminal work as a scholar of African American history. As we celebrate African American History, we celebrate Dr. Woodson. And we must also remember that African American History is woven deeply into the fabric of the American experience.
For example, Garrett Morgan created the three position traffic signal; Sarah Boone, who was once an enslaved person, improved the ironing board, and she was one of the first black women in US history to receive a patent; Mary Van Brittan Brown devised an early security unit for her own home, creating a path for many of today’s home security systems, and Frederick McKinley Jones created the refrigerated truck. So much of what we currently take for granted as “American” ingenuity is indeed, American—African American—and we must acknowledge the great contributions African Americans have made to the society in which we live. In these difficult times when the rhetoric of the day seeks to divide us as a nation, let us remember the work of our esteemed alumnus, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and all of the African Americans and other people of color in this nation who have made the world a better place for all Americans.