February 21, 2000

NEWS

Page 3

A look at the founder of Black History Month

By Barrington A. Morrison
-TORONTO (CUP) - Carter
Goodwin Woodson was born
on December 19, 1875, in the
rural town of New Canton,
Virginia. One of nine children,
he grew up on his family farm.
His mother, a former slave
who secretly learned to read
and write as a child, and two
of his uncles, who received
training at  Freedman’s
Bureau Schools, tutored him
and cultivated his interest in
learning. In 1892, Woodson
moved to Huntington, West
Virginia, where he worked in
the coal mines.

During the 19th century, the
southern United States was
rife with racism. Many whites
used lynching as a means of
social control to ensure the
black population didn’t carry
any ideas of freedom too far.
Some black men_ were
lynched because for trying to
learn how to read and write. It
was a common practice after
the male victims were
lynched to ceremoniously
remove their vital organs and
put them on public display. It
was in this tragic environment

Historical Moments
Continued from
Page 2

1964: Harry Jerome of
Vancouver wins bronze in the
100-metre dash at the Tokyo
Olympics. Earlier he had run
the distance in the world-
record time of 10.0 seconds.
In 1971, Jerome is. awarded
the Order of Canada “for
excellence in all fields of
Canadian life.”

1972: Rosemary Brown of
Vancouver becomes the first
black woman elected to a

provincial legislature in
Canada.

1979: Lincoln Alexander, of
Hamilton, becomes

Canada’s first black cabinet
minister. He serves as minis-
ter of labour in the federal
government. From 1985 to
1991, he serves as the lieu-
tenant-governor of Ontario.
1996: Donovan Bailey of
Oakville, Ont., becomes the
fastest man in the world by
winning the 100-metre sprint
at the Atlanta Olympics.

that Carter G. Woodson grew
up.

When he was 20, Woodson
enrolled at Frederick Douglas
High School, the only all-
black school in the area. He
completed the four-year cur-
riculum in two years even
though he was working to pay
his tuition. Following his grad-
uation, he obtained a teach-
ing. position in Winona, West
Virginia. In 1901, Woodson
returned to his former high
school to teach and later
serve as principal.
Meanwhile, he intermittently
attended Berea College in
Kentucky, an_ integrated
school established by aboli-
tionists, where he graduated
in 1903.

Woodson was then hired by
the U.S. War Department to
teach English to Spanish-
speaking students in the
Philippines. While abroad, he
studied Spanish and other
romantic languages through
University of Chicago corre-
spondence courses.
Returning to the U.S. after
travelling in Europe, he
enrolled at the University of

Chicago in 1907, where he
received both Bachelor's and
Master’s degrees in
European history in 1908. He
then entered the doctoral pro-
gram in history at Harvard
University, and the next year
initiated a 10-year teaching
career at Dunbar High School
in Washington, D.C. He
received the Ph.D in 1912,
making him the second
African American to earn a
Harvard doctorate degree. He
subsequently studied at the
prestigious Sorbonne _ in
Paris.

In 1915, Woodson estab-
lished the Association for the
study of Negro Life and
History (ASNLH), later
renamed the Association for
the Study of Afro-American
Life and History. The organi-
zation’s aim was to encour-
age research and writing
about the black experience,
to publish this writing and to
raise funds to support
researchers and writers.

As extensions to ASNLH,
Woodson founded __sitthe
Journal of Negro History in
1916, a scholarly journal

Smokers Only Contest

The Tobacco Act, enacted in
1997, currently permits
tobacco companies to spon-
sor events. Increased restric-
tions will come into effect Oct.
1, 2000, and a total

ban of tobacco sponsorship is
planned for 2003.

Jocelyne Girard, from the
Quebec Human _ Rights
Commission in Montreal,
says people are often frus-
trated by the lack of recourse
against such a contest. She
adds that Section 26 of the
Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms guarantees
other rights not included in
the Charter, and smoking can
be argued as one of them.

Anti-smoking groups say the
contest perverts the spirit of
tne law. Louis Gauvin, co-
ordinator of the Coalition
QuEbEcoise pour le contrUle
du tabac, is concerned about
what he sees as a new
attempt to skirt the law. “My
analysis is that this publicity is
actually tobacco publicity,’ he

said. “It’s not just to go to a
show. It’s pretty fun to go to
Whistler, but there’s some-
thing.more to it.”

At the Canadian Cancer
Society, Rob Cunningham, a
lawyer, says the loophole in
the law permitting the tobac-
co industry to run such a con-
test is proof that a total ban of
sponsoring by tobacco com-
panies is necessary. “It’s
unacceptable that a tobacco
company uses a contest to
promote addiction,” he said.
“They are targeting a young
audience because tobacco
companies need smokers to
replace those that die or quit.”

But DescUteaux sees the
contest as totally legitimate
because it is aimed at its
already acquired clientele.
“Our sponsoring activities are
aimed at smokers,” he said.
“We're not in the business of
convincing people to smoke.

Anyway, if we relied on such.a

contest to attract smokers, we
would be destined to. failure

which was used by students
throughout the world. The
Associated Publishers was
founded in 1921, and the
Negro History Bulletin in
1937. The Negro History
Bulletin provided elementary
and secondary teachers
lessons in African American
History.

One of Woodson’s enduring
achievements is his initiation
of Black History Month. In
1926, he launched Negro
History Week, a commemo-
ration of black achievement
held the second week in
February, which marked the

- birthdays of Frederick
Douglas and Abraham
Lincoln. To encourage

African-Americans to cele-
brate Negro History Week,
Woodson distributed kits con-
taining pictures of and stories
about notable African
Americans. Negro History
Week was changed to Black
History Month in the 1960s.
A prolific writer, Woodson
authored and co-authored 19
books on various aspects of
African-American History. He
was one of the first scholars

to consider slavery from the
slave’s perspective, to com-
pare slavery in the United
States to slavery in Latin
America and to note the
African cultural influences in
the New World slave culture.

Woodson’s perspective on
the education of black people
found its expression in his lit-
erary magnum opus, The
Mis-Education of the Negro
(1933). In this sobering book,
Woodson described the terri-
ble effects of Eurocentric
racist education on the
blacks. “When you control a
man’s thinking you do not
have to worry about his
actions,” he wrote. “You do not
have to tell him to stand here
or go yonder. He will find his
proper place and will stay in
it. You do not need to send
him to the back door, he will
cut one for his special benefit.
His education makes it nec-
essary.”

Continued from page 2

because you have to know
the circumstances and rea-
sons why people start smok-
ing, and that’s not a debate
we'll start here.”

Although this contest targets
smokers, the concert audi-

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ence will still have to face
B.C’s new anti-smoking laws.
Since Jan. 1, all public build-
ings in the province - includ-
ing pubs, bars, restaurants,
malls and stadiums - have
been smoke-free.

BRITISH COLUMBIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY