Dr. Carter G. Woodson was born on December 19, 1875, to former slaves James Henry and Eliza Ann Riddle Woodson. At age 17 he left Buckingham to work in the coal mines near Huntington, West Virginia. While there he entered Douglass High School and completed four years of high school in less than two years. Committed to education, he attended Berea College in Kentucky, the University of Chicago, and the Sorbonne in Paris, and became the second African American to receive a PhD in history from Harvard University. He returned to Douglass High School as a teacher and principal and later taught and held administrative positions in the Philippines, at Howard University, and at West Virginia State College. Dedicated to researching, writing, and preserving the historical contributions of people of African descent, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and The Journal of Negro History in 1915, founded Negro History Week in 1926, and wrote or coauthored more than 30 books and 125 articles. His legacy continues in the yearly observance of Black History Month.