Young Carter Woodson did not let anything keep him from learning. He went to school when he could. When he had to stay home and work on the farm, he taught himself. When he was seventeen, he knew the subjects that were taught in public school. He was mostly self-taught.

Woodson wanted more education. He worked as a coal miner in Kentucky to pay for his higher education. Later when he was qualified, he taught grade school and later, high school students. During his summer vacations Woodson continued his education.

Carter Woodson was a good student. He was educated at Berea College in Kentucky. He later went to the University of Chicago where he earned his BA, or Bachelor of Arts in 1907 and his MA or Master of Arts degree in 1908. He earned his Ph.D. or Doctor of Philosophy degree at Harvard University in 1912. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.

In 1915, Carter Woodson started the Association for the study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). He began the Association to help Black historians uncover the history of the Black man in Africa and in America.

White historians had changed the history of the Black man. White historians had made up untruths about the Black man so that White people, would believe that slavery was right to enslave the Black man.

The untruths written by White historians made many Blacks believe that they had no history. Many black people were ashamed of their race because of these untruths.

Dr. Woodson felt it was important for Black people to know their history and to have pride in their race. He felt that race prejudice grew from the idea than Black people were inferior to White people, The truth about Black history would stop the spread of racial prejudice.

Dr. Woodson said Blacks should be proud of their African ancestors. The African had taught the modern world trial by jury, music by stringed instruments, the domestication of the sheep and the cow, and the use of iron.