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Today's Google Doodle celebrates Black History Month and Carter G. Woodson , the great African
American scholar commonly regarded as "the Father of Black History".
Woodson had grown up in rural New Canton, Virginia, in the aftermath of the American
Civil War, the son of freed slaves James and Eliza Riddle Woodson.
James Woodson, a Union veteran, relocated his young family to Huntington, West Virginia,
so that his son could attend a new high school for black pupils then under construction,
hoping to give Carter the best possible chance of getting the education he and his wife had
been denied.
The financial truths of their situation however meant that Carter often had to miss school
to help out on the family farm.
Undeterred, the young student trained himself the fundamentals of English, maths and science
and became accomplished in those subjects by the age of 17.
He was forced to begin work in the coal mines of Fayette County at this point, temporarily
frustrating what had been surprising academic progress.
In 1895, aged 20, he was able to continue his studies at Douglass High School in Huntington
and received his diploma in under 2 years.
After three years of teaching, he returned to Douglass as principal before moving to
the Philippines between 1903 and 1907 to serve as a school supervisor.
In in 1950 at the age of 74, Carter G. Woodson died of a heart attack in Washington.
His proud example set the stage for the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement and he is rightly
celebrated to this day as a remarkable man and a true pioneer.