VA-F57 Carter G. Woodson Birthplace

Marker text: CARTER G. WOODSON BIRTHPLACE

Carter Godwin Woodson was born about three miles east on 19 December 1875. As a youth he mined coal near Huntington, W. Va. He earned degrees at Berea College (B.L., 1903), University of Chicago (B.A. and M.A., 1908), and Harvard (Ph. D., 1912) -- one of the first blacks awarded a doctorate by Harvard. In 1915 he organized the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and in 1916 established the Journal of Negro History. Known as the Father of Afro-American History, Woodson founded Negro History Week - now Afro-American History month - in 1926. He died in Washington, D.C., on 3 April 1950.

Department of Historic Resources, 1993