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. Unfortunately, many of these articles have not even been catalogued, let alone made available. I’ve begun this project with 150 articles from the New York Age (see Carter G. Woodson in the New York Age, 1931–1938) and 33 articles in the Pittsburgh Courier (see Carter G. Woodson in the Pittsburgh Courier, 1931–1940); this post continues with 25 more articles from the Cleveland Call and Post.
Mary Anthony Scally’s Carter G. Woodson: A Bio-Bibliography does not list any articles from the Cleveland Call and Post. A recent study by Burnis R. Morris lists over 200 articles by Woodson, and contains a total of 19 articles from the Call and Post (see Carter G. Woodson: History, the Black Press, and Public Relations (2017). I’ve done as exhaustive of a search as I can, and have found 25 articles, and am making them available here, many of which for the first time.
Thanks to NewspaperArchive.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 25 articles linked below.
The Cleveland Call and Post was founded around 1928 “as a merger between the Cleveland Call and the Cleveland Post, two newspapers that had been serving the African-American community since 1916 and 1920″ (“Call and Post,” Wikipedia). William O. Walker (1896–1981) served as editor from 1932 until 1981, including during the years that Woodson contributed articles.
Without further ado, here’s Carter G. Woodson in the Cleveland Call and Post (for those who prefer, a pdf of all the links is also available):
1938
January 6, 1938. Negro history is irrevocably a part of America” “Continued”
February 24, 1938. “Constructive opposition develops real leadership“
March 31, 1938. “A Great Crisis in Negro Affairs is Now Imminent”
December 15, 1938. “Urges Study Of Negro History To Further Truth In Education”
1943
August 14, 1943. “Democracy in Spite of Opposition”
October 23, 1943. “The Negro soldier“
November 6, 1943. “Patriotism“
December 4, 1943. “Independence”
1944
February 26, 1944. “The Negro Looks for Democracy”
May 6, 1944. “Tolerance and the Negro”
June 10, 1944. “Why Negroes Fight In This War”
August 5, 1944. “One and the Same Objective”
December 30, 1944. “Development of the Negro Community”
1945
February 10, 1945. “Which Shall It Be? Democracy or Empire”
May 26, 1945. “Our Way of Living”
1946
January 5, 1946. “Isolating Medievalism”
February 9, 1946. “Paying Taxes to Save Britain”
April 6, 1946. “The Deplorable State of the Nation”
May 11, 1946. “Politics Corrupted by Selfishness” [Morris lists this article and gives a page number of 4B, but the scan on NewspaperArchive skips from 3B to 5B, so for now, this article is still unavailable]
November 23, 1946. “Dangers of Political Leadership“
November 30, 1946. “Democracy Possible Only Through Brotherhood“
1947
February 1, 1947. “Democracy Possible Only Through Brotherhood”
February 15, 1947. “The Unfinished Task”
March 8, 1947. “Liberia needs help”
March 22, 1947. “Martyrs for Freedom”
April 26, 1947. “Groundwork Still a Necessity”
βιβλιοσκώληξ 
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