It is sad that in 2023, we still do not have a “Collected Works of Carter G. Woodson.” Such a series would be a tremendous undertaking, to be sure, but surely worthwhile. Woodson was one of the pioneers of Black history, a trailblazer and mentor for a whole generation of Black historians, and yet so much of his work remains tucked away in archives. This post is one small effort to remedy that and to make some of Woodson’s work more accessible.
“During the 1930s and 1940s, Woodson wrote several hundred essays in leading black newspapers such as the New York Age, the Pittsburgh Courier from Pennsylvania, the Afro-American from Baltimore, Maryland, and the Chicago Defender.” (Pero Dagbovie, “Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950)” BlackPast)
Some of these essays would be collected and published as Woodson’s most famous work, The Mis-Education of the Negro (1933). But there were many, many more.
Sister Mary Anthony Scally, a Catholic nun who worked for decades for The Association for the Study of Negro Life History, helping organize its library, and gathered up materials for a Woodson biography (for more on Scally, see Artie Myers, “A Tribute to Sister Mary Anthony Scally (1905-1992)” The Journal of Negro History 78.1 (1993): 81–82 (available on JStor). In 1985, Scally published her 250 page compilation Carter G. Woodson: A Bio-Bibliography (available here). Scally’s book is a fantastic source for Carter G. Woodson’s published material, and lists dozens of his articles from the New York Age and other papers. Unfortunately, as is often the case with trailblazers, the bibliography also contains a number of errors, including missing articles, articles with incorrect dates, incorrect titles or more. I gladly acknowledge my debt to Scally’s foundational work, while refining her efforts even further to correct the errors I’ve found in making these articles available. I am sure careful readers will spot my own errors, and the list may be refined further yet.
Thanks to Newspapers.com, anyone in the public can access the “clipped” versions of these articles, even without a subscription. Where other researchers have already accessed these, I have linked to their clippings; where articles were previously untouched, I’ve created my own. In total, there are over 150 articles linked below.
A warning to readers: some of the articles ramble all over the page, and it takes some careful reading to know where an article picks up in the next column. Here’s an example of one of the more scattered I’ve seen:
I’ve tried to keep annotations to a minimum, for ease of navigation. In a few places I’ve added a few notes, such as some articles that Scally included that reference Woodson, but were not written by Woodson. Where articles are “Continued on Page 12” I’ve included a separate link to page 12.
Without further ado, here’s Carter G. Woodson in the New York Age (for those who prefer, a pdf of all the links is also available):
1931
The earliest article I can find is from April 18, 1931:
A month later, the Age advertised that Woodson would write a regular column
May 16, “Dr. Carter Woodson to Write Column for the New York Age”
That column ran for over a year under the heading “Comments on Negro Education”
May 16, 1931 “Comments on Negro Education: The Business Education of the Negro a Downright Failure”
May 23, 1931 “A Duel in ‘Higher Education’“
May 30, 1931. “Why ‘Highly Educated’ Ministers Preach to Benches”
June 6, 1931. “The Mis-Education of the Negro in Economics”
June 13, 1931. “Politics in the Schools.” [note: the article appears to end mid-sentence, but does not pick up anywhere else in the paper]
June 20, 1931. “Complete Program Announced for National Negro Business League Session” [note: this is not an article by Woodson; it mentions that he will be at the meeting]
June 27, 1931. “The Negro Graduates.“
July 4, 1931. “The Development of Scott’s Machine”
July 11 “Negro Trail Blazers a Necessity”
July 18, 1931. “Only the Trail Blazer in Business Succeeds.”
July 25, 1931. “Negroes Look in Vain for Help from Without.”
August 1, 1931. “The Inconsistency of Negro Radicals” [According to Scally, this was “Also published as a separate flyer” (179)]
August 8, 1931. “The Negro Must Appeal to His Own.”
August 15, 1931. “A United Negro Church.”
August 22, 1931. “Opposition to the Union of Negro Churches.”
August 29, 1931. “Difficulties in Way of the United Church.”
September 5, 1931. “Union of Churches Considered Utopian.”
September 12, 1931. “Radical Proposals With Respect to the United Negro Church.”
September 19, 1931. “Disunion of the Churches Accounts for the Negro Preacher in Politics.”
September 26, 1931. “Church Edifices Declared to be Property in Mortmain.”
October 3, 1931. “Theology a Factor in Disunion of Churches.”
October 10, 1931. “Superfluous Negro Preachers Prevent the Union of the Churches.‘
October 17, 1931. “Need for Union Emphasized by Recent Data of the Churches.”
October 24, 1931. “Negro Church to be Subjected to the Acid Test at Historical Meeting.”
October 31, 1931. “The Contribution of the West Indian to America: A Topic of the Historical Meeting in New York City.”
November 7, 1931. “West Indian Racial Purity Considered an Advantage.”
November 14, 1931. “Woodson as an Iconoclast.”
November 21, 1931. “Finding the Negro Community and Working in It.”
November 28, 1931. “The Increasing Desire to Know the Truth.”
December 5, 1931. “Facts of Church Corruption Called Half-Baked Opinions.”
December 12, 1931. “The Side-Show of the George Washington Bicentennial.”
December 19, 1931. “Traducing the Negro to Honor George Washington.”
December 26, 1931. “Eliminating the Negro from the George Washington Bicentennial.”
1932
January 2, 1932. “The George Washington Bicentennial Eliminates March 5, Crispus Attucks Day.”
January 9, 1932. “The 18th Century Negro More Courageous than the Negro of the Twentieth”
January 16, 1932. “George Washington as He Was.”
January 23, 1932. “Negroes More Outspoken a Century Ago Than Today.”
January 30, 1932. “Why the Negro Cannot Move Forward.”
February 6, 1932. “An Appeal for Assistance in the Study of Negro Life and History.”
February 13, 1932. “The Need for True Dramatization of Negro Life.”
February 20, 1932. “What the Negro Has to Dramatize.”
February 27, 1932. “Blessings of the Depression.”
March 5, 1932. “Impediments to Cooperation Among Negroes.”
March 12,1932. “Do We Get What We Deserve?”
March 19,1932. “Youth Trying to Find a Way.”
March 26, 1932. “The Difficulty of Learning from the Depression.”
April 2, 1932. “The Poverty of the Depression Not Alarming.”
April 9, 1932. “The Meager Contribution to Leadership in Washington.”
April 16,1932. “How to Get Out of the Bread Line.”
April 23, 1932. “A Symposium on Higher Education.”
April 30, 1932 “Do You Study the Negro? Do You Know Him?”
May 7, 1932. Vocational Guidance.
May 14, 1932. “An Educational Institution.”
May 21, 1932. “Is the Educated Negro a Liability?”
May 28, 1932. “Is the Negro a Business Failure?”
June 4, 1932. “And so Miss Bowles goes the Way of Moorland.”
June 11, 1932. “Exploitation is Not Education.”
June 18, 1932. “Too Much ‘Hindsight,’ Insufficient Foresight.”
June 25, 1932. “And the Negro Loses His Soul.”
Woodson’s June 4 article “And so Miss Bowles goes the Way of Moorland” sparked a little flurry of activity:
- June 18, 1932, Dr. Channing H. Tobias, “Tobias Replies to Woodson’s Attack on Y.M.C.A.”; Continued
- June 18, 1932, Editors, “Woodson at His Worst”
- June 25, 1932. “Woodson Replies to Article by Dr. Tobias”; Continued
July 2, 1932. “Prophets and Profits of Segregation.”
This was the last article published in the Age by Woodson for over a year. In November, the Age advertised that Woodson would start writing again in December, but in fact, he did not publish in the paper again until October 1933.
November 26, “Carter G. Woodson’s Articles to Appear”
1933
Starting in October 1933, Woodson began a new series of articles, this time without the banner “Comments on Negro Education”
October 14, 1933. “Sending the Wrong Negro to Europe.”; continued
October 21, 1933. “Advertising the Race Abroad.”; continued
October 28, 1933. “Pioneers Wanted Abroad.”; continued
November 4, 1933. “Leave a Javelin at the Door.”; continued
Beginning November 11, Carter’s articles were moved to the center columns on page 5, under the headline banner “Features of Interest to All”
November 11, 1933. “Self-Assertion in Africa.”
November 18, 1933. “A New Step in Negro Education.”
November 25, 1933. “Purchasing the Badge of Inferiority.”
December 2, 1933. “Last Excuse of The Derelict Removed.”
December 9, 1933. “First Scientific Study of Negro in the Professions.”
December 16, 1933. “Negro History Week Again.”
December 23, 1933. “Spirituals Made to Order“
December 30, 1933. “Holding the Negro Between Him and the Fire.”
1934
January 6, 1934. “How To Get From Between The Other Fellow And The Fire.”
January 13, 1934. “Teaching Negroes Deliberately And Specifically.”
January 20, 1934. “Sounding a New Note for Negro History Week.”
January 27, 1934. “Differentiation in Education With Respect To Races.”
February 3, 1934. “Negro History Week–Feb. 11-18.”
February 10, 1934. “Distinguishing Between The Significant And The Insignificant.”
February 17, 1934. “Varying Conceptions of History.”
February 24, 1934. “Forgotten Negroes.”
March 3, 1934. “That Awful Race Problem.”
On March 10, the column was moved again, this time to the front page of the second section of the paper:
March 10, 1934. “History Lost by Emphasizing Trifles.”
March 17, 1934. “Forgotten Romances of Negro History.”
March 24, 1934. “The Romance of the Creole.”
March 31, 1934. “The Hero of the Amistad.”
April 7, 1934. “Truth in the Battle with Error.”
April 14, 1934. “That Mischievous Advisor on Negro Affairs.”
April 21, 1934, “Why Some Negroes Advocate Segregation.”
Thus finished another run.
1935
Ten months later, Woodson published few one-off articles before resuming a regular column again.
February 23, 1935. “Woodson Misquoted on the Church.”
March 30, 1935 “Negro History Association Reaches Another Landmark.”
April 6, 1935. “Negro History Association Seeks $30,000 Fund.” [note: in the Bio-Bibliography, but not written by Woodson]
In August, Woodson resumed a regular weekly column again:
August 3, 1935. “What The Association For The Study Of Negro Life and History Celebrates This Year.”
August 10, 1935. “The $30,000 Campaign Of The Association For The Study Of Negro Life And History.”
August 17, 1935. “Opposition To Negro History Explained.”
August 24, 1935. “Program For The Celebration Of The 20th Anniversary Of History Association in Chicago.”
August 31, 1935. “Historical Association In The Celebration Of Its 20th Anniversary Faces The Future.”
September 7, 1935. “The African Situation To Be Discussed At Negro History Association’s Celebration.”
September 21, 1935 “Association For The Study f Negro Life And History Celebrates 20th Anniversary.” [included by Scally, but not written by Woodson]
November 16, 1935. “New Treatment Of Richard Allen’s Life In Biography Written By Charles H. Wesley.”; Continued
November 30, 1935. “Negro History Week Literature Distributed Free of Charge.“; Continued
December 7, 1935. “Increased Interest Noted in the Dramatization of the Negro“; Continued
December 14, 1935. “What Aspect of Negro Life and History Would You Dramatize?“; Continued
December 21, 1935. “Negro History Week, Negro History Year”; Continued
December 28, 1935. “Abyssinia in Negro History Week“; Continued
1936
January 4, 1936. “Why The Negro Lacks His Tenth“; Continued
January 11, 1936. “Accumulating With $100 A Month“; Continued
January 18, 1936. “How The African Surpasses His Traducers”
January 25, 1936. “The Higher Standard of Living”
February 1, 1936. “History And Not Eulogy”
February 8, 1936. “The Month for Celebrations”
February 15, 1936 “Negro History Week In Its Proper Setting”
February 22, 1936. “Keeping The Record“
February 29, 1936. “George Washington”
March 7, 1936. “The Next Oath“
March 14, 1936. “Why Call The Negro Red?”
March 21, 1936. “Emancipation Of The Negro Voter”
March 28, 1936. “What Negro Do You Hate?”
April 4, 1936. “The Loyalty Of The Negro Questioned Again“
[Note: Scally’s Bio-Bibliogoraphy ends here, and does not include any of the following articles]
September 19, 1936. “Carter Woodson Not To Take Active Part In Coming Election”
December 5, 1936. “Negro History Week Pamphlet Distributed Free, Says Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Director”
1937
May 8, 1937. “Urges Support of Bethune-Cookman”
December 18, 1937 “The Negro Must Not Despise His Glorious Past Says Director Of Negro History Study Association”
December 25, 1937 “More Suggestions For Negro History Week”
1938
January 1, 1938. “Negro An Integral Part of History”
January 8, 1938. “Making Negro History Week Count”
January 15, 1938. “Negro History Week A Stock-Taking Effort”
January 22, 1938. “Whites Join Negro History Week Celebration”; Continued
January 29, 1938. “Jane Dabney Shackleford”; Continued
February 5, 1938. “Charles H. Wesley Unmasks The Confederacy”
February 12, 1938. “The Call For The Negro As A Pioneer”
February 19, 1938. “History Misconceived”
February 26, 1938. “The United Negro“
March 5, 1938. “Monuments of the Race”
March 12,1938. “Encouraging the Negro Artist”
March 19,1938. “Negro Content To Go Progressively Down”
March 26, 1938. “The Negro At The Crossroad”; Continued
April 2, 1938. “The Negro Must Find New Techniques”
βιβλιοσκώληξ 
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