Carter G. Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia in 1875 to former slaves Anne Eliza (Riddle) and James Henry Woodson. Though neither could read nor write, they both held a strong desire to see their son succeed academically. Woodson's father would teach him that, "learning to accept insult, to compromise on principle, to mislead your fellow man, or to betray your people, is to lose your soul".

In a large and poor family, young Woodson states that he was brought up without the "ordinary comforts of life". Often he was forced to miss schooling in order to help work on the family farm. Yet determined to complete his young education, Woodson began upon a process of self-teaching away from the classroom. Ever seeking to learn, Woodson moved with his brother to Huntington, West Virginia, where they hoped to attend the Douglass High School. However, Woodson found himself earning a living as a miner in Fayette County coalfields just to feed himself. And he was able to devote only a few months each year to his schooling. But again never giving up, in 1895 and at the age of twenty-one Woodson entered Douglass High School and earned his diploma in two years.

From 1897 to 1900, Woodson began teaching in Winona, Fayette County. In 1900, he returned to Huntington to become the principal of Douglass H.S. and received his Bachelor of Literature degree from Berea College, Kentucky. From 1903 to 1907, he was a school supervisor in the South Pacific islands of the Philippines. Later he traveled throughout Europe and Asia and studied at the famed Sorbonne University in Paris. In 1908, this son of former slaves received his M.A. from the University of Chicago, and in 1912, a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University.

During his travels and studies Woodson began to develop an important perception of history as an applicable field of study, especially for black people. History, he would say, was not the mere gathering of facts and data. One did not know simply for the sake of knowing. The object of historical study Woodson contended was to come to a reasonable interpretation of the facts through critical analysis. History be believed was more than political and military records of peoples and nations. It must include some description of the social conditions of the period being studied. In this way Woodson can said to be one of America's first social historians, a field that is now experiencing a great deal of attention.

Woodson was more than mere philosophy however, as he published works, founded institutions and movements to back up his beliefs. In 1915, he and several friends in Chicago established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The following year, the Journal of Negro History appeared, one of the oldest learned journals in the United States. In 1937 he published the first issue of the famous Negro History Bulletin. But what has probably gained him most notoriety was his establishment of Negro History Week that in later years would become what is now known as Black History Month.