Tag: Carter Woodson

Huntington Banner Program Honors Black History Month

he City of Huntington is recognizing 150 Black people of note through a street banner program as part of Black History Month. The installation by the Public Works Department of the banners Monday on 3rd and 4th avenues coincides with the launch of a website, www.huntingtonblackhistory.com, with photographs and biographies of each featured individual.

The City of Huntington is recognizing 150 Black people of note through a street banner program as part of Black History Month. 

The installation by the Public Works Department of the banners Monday on 3rd and 4th avenues coincides with the launch of a website, www.huntingtonblackhistory.com, with photographs and biographies of each featured individual.

Individuals chosen for the honor must have resided in Huntington for at least five years, or have made a notable contribution on a city, state or national level. 

In a release, Mayor Steve Williams remembered Huntington’s native son, Dr. Carter G. Woodson who is credited with the creation of Black History Month itself. 

“These endeavors are the City of Huntington’s intentional steps toward defining Black History Month as a quintessential gift to the rest of the world through the life and experience of Huntington’s native son, Dr. Carter G. Woodson,” Williams said. “Without the contributions of Dr. Woodson and all of the other individuals that we are honoring, Huntington would not be what it is today – a quilt of diversity and cultures that is accepting and loving of all people.”

The street banners will remain on display through the month of March.

September 9, 1915: Carter Woodson Helps Found Association for the Study of Negro Life and History

On September 9, 1915, historian Carter Woodson helped found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. This group became the cornerstone for the study of black history in the United States

Woodson first came to West Virginia as a 16 year old after leaving his native Virginia to look for work. After a brief stint laying railroad ties in Charleston, he began mining coal in Fayette County. When he was 20, Woodson enrolled in Huntington’s segregated Frederick Douglass High School. He graduated in two years and moved back to Fayette County to teach. In 1900, he succeeded his cousin as principal of Douglass High. He was only 24. Woodson eventually moved on to Harvard University, where, in 1912, he became only the second African-American to earn a doctorate from the prestigious school. His dissertation addressed factors that had led to West Virginia’s statehood.

In 1920, Woodson returned to West Virginia to serve for two years as a dean at West Virginia Collegiate Institute—today’s West Virginia State University. Recognized as the “father of black history,” Carter Woodson died in 1950 at age 74.  

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