Observations placeholder
Woodson, Carter - Let us banish fear
Identifier
019789
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Carter was very active in trying to get the school curriculum changed and also in actively challenging racism.
Carter G. Woodson stayed at the Wabash Avenue YMCA during visits to Chicago. Dr. Woodson's experiences there and in the surrounding Bronzeville neighborhood inspired him to create the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915. The ASNLH (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History), which ran conferences, published The Journal of Negro History, and "particularly targeted those responsible for the education of black children".
Woodson also became affiliated with the Washington, D.C. branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and its chairman Archibald Grimké. Archibald Henry Grimké (August 17, 1849 – February 25, 1930) was an African-American lawyer, intellectual, journalist, diplomat and community leader. He had been born into slavery, his mother was a slave.
On January 28, 1915, Carter wrote a letter to Grimké expressing his dissatisfaction with activities. Woodson made two proposals:
- That the branch secure an office for a center to which persons may report whatever concerns the black race may have, and from which the Association may extend its operations into every part of the city; and
- That a canvasser be appointed to enlist members and obtain subscriptions for The Crisis, the NAACP magazine edited by W. E. B. Du Bois.
W. E. B. Du Bois added the proposal to
“divert patronage from business establishments which do not treat races alike,"
that is, boycott businesses. Woodson wrote that he would cooperate as one of the twenty-five effective canvassers, adding that he would pay the office rent for one month. Grimke did not welcome Woodson's ideas. Responding to Grimke's comments about his proposals, on March 18, 1915, Woodson wrote the following:
A description of the experience
I am not afraid of being sued by white businessmen. In fact, I should welcome such a law suit. It would do the cause much good. Let us banish fear. We have been in this mental state for three centuries. I am a radical. I am ready to act, if I can find brave men to help me