From the WV mines to a Ph.D., Carter Woodson strove to preserve black history
GLEN JEAN, WV (WVNS) – Did you know the man that is responsible for the creation of Black History Month once worked and lived near the New River Gorge?
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Carter G. Woodson was born in 1875 in Virginia to parents who were slaves. As he grew up, they moved to Huntington to pursue new lives. To earn a living, he worked in the New River Gorge coalfields, more specifically a coal mine in Nuttallburg, Fayette County. Here, Woodson heard lots of amazing stories from other black coal miners, which inspired Woodson's love for history.
Eve West is the chief of interpretation and education at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
She explained that Woodson went on to have a unique college journey to get his doctorate degree after graduating high school in Huntington.
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'To go from Kentucky to Chicago and then on to Harvard University back in that time period [was amazing]. The coolest fact about him really, I think, is he is the only African-American who was born of parents who had been slaves at one point in time, who went on then to get his Ph.D. at Harvard,' said West.
The colleges that Woodson attended include Berea College, University of Chicago, and Harvard.
Woodson's passion for history led him to join the American Historical Association. However, he was not allowed to attend their conferences because of his ethnicity. So, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 to shine a light on black history.
'He was a miner here [in West Virginia]. He was a teacher here and then he actually came back as dean of West Virginia State University,' added West. 'He attributed his work ethic, a strong work ethic, to being a coal miner here in the modern New River Gorge and so he learned that strong work ethic here in this new River Gorge region. I think that is something also to be very proud of.'
In 1926, he helped launch Negro History Week, which would take place during the second week of February.
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'Woodson passed on in the at the age of while he was in his eighties, [in] 1950. But then in 1970, [at] Kent State University, the educators there got interested in the whole concept, and so they created they turned in Black History Week and what we have today, which is Black History Month,' said West.
The United States officially recognized Black History Month for the first time in 1976.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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