Since 1926, Americans have recognized black history annually 鈥� first as Negro History Week and later as . What you might not know is that black history had barely begun to be studied 鈥� or even documented 鈥� when the tradition began. Although African-Americans have been in this country since colonial times, it was not until the 20th century that they gained a somewhat respectable presence in history books.
We owe the celebration of Black History Month, and more importantly, the study of black history, to . Woodson was disturbed to find in his studies that history books largely ignored the African-American population, and when they did, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time.
In 1915, Woodson and the founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, now called the , and a year later founded the widely respected .
Featured on today鈥檚 program are John Wooten, co-founder and chairman of the ; Michel Martin, weekend host of ; the Honorable Ron Kirk, former ; and the late Joyce Ann Brown, founder of .
