The historian who unearthed a long-lost Carter G. Woodson manuscript will speak publicly about its contents for the first time Thursday, Feb. 7, at a free University of Colorado at Colorado Springs community forum.<\/p>\n
Daryl Michael Scott, a Howard University black history scholar, will offer excerpts from the soon-to-be-released Woodson manuscript from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the University Center Overlook Caf\u00e9. The public is invited and hors d\u2019oeuvres will be provided.<\/p>\n
Woodson, frequently referred to as the \u201cfather of black history,\u201d is perhaps most famous for creating the institution now known as Black History Month. Woodson also authored \u201cThe Mis-Education of the Negro,\u201d a 1933 classic in African American literature and considered a primer for black activism.<\/p>\n
Until now, historians believed they\u2019d seen and catalogued everything Woodson had penned. One afternoon in 2005, Scott discovered otherwise.<\/p>\n
Scott, a journal editor and officer for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, ASALH is a preeminent Woodson scholar and unofficial keeper of the Woodson archives. Scott was exploring a defunct ASALH file cabinet in a Washington, D.C.-area self-storage unit when he spotted a weathered gray envelope bearing handwriting he recognized as Woodson\u2019s. Inside was a typewritten 236-page document titled \u201cThe Case of the Negro,\u201d dated 1921.<\/p>\n
Scott knew immediately that he was on to something big.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of heady,\u201d Scott said. \u201cI\u2019m very familiar with the books he\u2019d published. I knew right off this had never been published.\u201d<\/p>\n
That Scott will be sharing its contents with the UCCS community before larger venues is testament to the power of personal relationship. It was La Vonne Neal, dean, UCCS College of Education, who asked Scott to debut his findings in Colorado Springs. Neal, like Scott, edits an ASALH scholarly journal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen La Vonne asks me to come, I come. I don\u2019t say that to everybody,\u201d Scott said. \u201cI admire her commitment as editor of the Black History Bulletin. You don\u2019t usually get a dean of a college of education with such a busy schedule to edit a journal. She has bigger fish to fry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neal, for her part, can\u2019t conceal her delight that Scott agreed. At last fall\u2019s ASALH annual convention, Scott revealed to members that a Woodson manuscript had been found. Until now, he has not shared excerpts or commentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be the first place he is going to go public with this,\u201d Neal said. \u201cThat\u2019s historical and noteworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event is being hosted by the UCCS College of Education\u2019s Community Learning Series with funding provided by CU President Hank Brown\u2019s office. Scott also will meet with Pikes Peak Community College faculty and staff, implementing a feature of the UCCS Diversity Strategic Plan that calls for the university to provide a leadership role in coordinating and promoting diversity in Southern Colorado, said Neal.<\/p>\n
Scott spent two years editing the book, researching its origins, and writing an introduction that would situate the found pages within the framework of Woodson\u2019s oeuvre and the national conversation on race relations that has ensued since \u201cThe Case of the Negro\u201d was penned. As such, Scott changed the title to \u201cWoodson\u2019s Appeal,\u201d in order to place it in the tradition of similar black activist writings as \u201cWalker\u2019s Appeal.\u201d David Walker was an American black abolitionist who promoted black pride and defended violent rebellion as a means for salves to gain freedom.<\/p>\n
The first printing of \u201cWoodson\u2019s Appeal\u201d is slated for early summer in a hardcover, limited collector\u2019s edition to be produced by the ASALH press, with proceeds to benefit the organization. Scott then hopes to partner with a mainstream publishing house to produce a paperback edition.<\/p>\n
Scott promises to share some \u201cdoozies\u201d from \u201cWoodson\u2019s Appeal\u201d that might explain why the manuscript was suppressed \u2013 most likely by Woodson himself. Woodson was not one to censor his fiery opinions. Moreover, he owned and operated his own printing press. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn contrast to \u2018The Mis-Education,\u2019 which focused on the shortcomings of the so-called educated classes of black Americans, \u2018Woodson\u2019s Appeal\u2019 is a defense of the black race that points up the shortcomings of white Americans,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n
Woodson\u2019s most strident statements in \u201cWoodson\u2019s Appeal,\u201d are those that accuse white Americans of corrupting Christianity.<\/p>\n
Woodson went on to publish nearly two dozen more books after this writing, including the scathing \u201cMis-Education\u201d \u2013 before his death in 1950.<\/p>\n
Woodson established ASALH in 1915 and founded Black History Month, formerly Negro History Week, in 1926. ASALH is considered the oldest black intellectual and scholarly organization in the world. Woodson was born in West Virginia in 1875, to impoverished ex-slaves. In1912 he became the second black American to earn a Ph.D from Harvard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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