Historian Carter G. Woodson started Black History Month. He created Negro History Week in February 1926. Black students at Kent State University expanded it into a full month in 1970, and Woodson's association made the month national in 1976.
- Founder: Carter G. Woodson, historian
- Organization: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, founded September 9, 1915, in Chicago; now ASALH
- First observance: Negro History Week, February 1926
- First monthlong observance: Kent State University, 1970
- National month: 1976
Who was Carter G. Woodson?
Carter G. Woodson was a historian who devoted his career to the study of Black life and history. The National Park Service calls him "The Father of African American History" (National Park Service).
On September 9, 1915, in Chicago, Woodson and others founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH). The organization is known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH. It still sets the national theme for Black History Month each year.
How did Woodson create Negro History Week?
Woodson was inspired by a 1915 celebration in Chicago marking fifty years since emancipation. In 1925 he decided his association should take on the work of popularizing Black history, and the first Negro History Week was held in February 1926 (ASALH; Library of Congress).
He ran the effort from his home in Washington, D.C., which served as the association's headquarters. The house is now the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site.
Read the full story in What Was Negro History Week?
Who turned the week into a month?
Students did. In 1969, Black United Students at Kent State University in Ohio, supported by Black educators on campus, proposed extending the observance to all of February. After a year of planning, Kent State held the first monthlong Black History Month in 1970 (Kent State Today).
Other Black communities and student groups pushed for longer observances during the same years (ASALH).
Who made it national?
Woodson's association made the national shift in 1976, the country's bicentennial year. It changed the observance from a week to a month and from "Negro" to "Black" history (ASALH). President Gerald Ford issued the first presidential message on Black History Month that February (American Presidency Project). Congress followed with Public Law 99-244 in 1986 (Public Law 99-244).
So who should get the credit?
Credit belongs to Woodson for creating the observance and building the institution behind it. The students at Kent State deserve credit for the monthlong form that the nation later adopted. Both are part of the answer.
Sources
- Abraham, Lisa. "Celebrating Black History Month Where It Began." Kent State Today, February 9, 2026.
- Ford, Gerald R. "Message on the Observance of Black History Month, February 1976." February 10, 1976. The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Library of Congress. "About Black History Month." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- National Park Service. "Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site." Accessed October 17, 2026.
- Scott, Daryl Michael. "Origins of Black History Month." Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Accessed October 17, 2026.
- U.S. Congress. Public Law 99-244, 100 Stat. 6. February 11, 1986.