Carter Reads the Newspaper

Who was Carter G. Woodson? Why was he important?

Woodson was the son of slaves. He strongly wanted an education but he was only able to attend school four months out of the year. When he was just a teen, he had to forego education and go to work in the coal mines. But while he was there, he began to read the newspaper to the miners, and he learned about the world from researching what he learned from the papers and the discussions held around what they learned from the papers.

He eventually received a PhD from Harvard in history. One of his professors told Woodson there was no black history and Woodson felt challenged to prove him wrong. And he did.

A beautifully told story of a man who created Black History Month and who shared stories of black Americans who impacted the world, a story illustrated with vivid pictures that bring the words to life.