On September 7 enjoy FREE admission at NAAM for our Freedom Day as we mark Grandparents and African American Elders’ Day and honor the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) by Carter G. Woodson and colleagues during Chicago’s Lincoln Jubilee in 1915.

As part of our Grandparents and African American Elders' Day celebration taking place that day, we’ll host an in-person interactive story time reading Carter Reads the Newspaper: The Story of Carter G. Woodson, Founder of Black History Month. The in-person reading occurs at 1 pm and the first 30 youth participants will receive a free copy of the book to take home and continue to enjoy!

On September 9, 1915, Carter G. Woodson and his colleagues founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) during the Lincoln Jubilee in Chicago. At a time when African American contributions were overlooked or distorted, this institution gave Black people the power to reclaim and preserve their own history.

Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved parents, understood that true freedom required more than legal rights—it required recognition, respect, and knowledge. He devoted his life to ensuring that African Americans could see themselves reflected in the story of this nation, not as footnotes or stereotypes, but as innovators, leaders, and builders of culture and democracy.

Through ASNLH, Woodson promoted intellectual freedom by challenging the systems that excluded Black history from textbooks and public memory. The publication of The Journal of Negro History in 1916, the later creation of the Negro History Bulletin, and the launch of Negro History Week in 1926 gave African Americans access to their history in ways that were affirming and empowering. Negro History Week, strategically placed in February, brought coordinated lessons, programs, and celebrations into schools and communities, laying the foundation for what would later become Black History Month.