Black History Month founder worked as coal miner in WV

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — “The Father of Black History” and founder of “Negro History Week,” which later became Black History Month, spent time in West Virginia as a coal miner.

According to the National Park Service (NPS), Carter G. Woodson, who was the second Black person to ever graduate from Harvard University, was a miner in the New River Gorge during his teen years. Woodson was born in Virginia in 1875, and both of his parents were emancipated slaves.

When his family moved to Huntington, West Virginia, he got a job working in the Nuttalburg and Kaymoor mines until he saved enough money to attend Frederick Douglass High School in Huntington, which was one of the few Black high schools at the time.

Woodson went on to graduate from Berea College in Kentucky and Harvard University, and to this day, he is the only person in American history whose parents were slaves to receive a PhD in History, according to the NPS.

After getting his education, Woodson dedicated his life to preserving and informing the American public about Black history and culture.

Today, visitors to the New River Gorge National Park & Preserve can still visit what remains of the Nuttalburg and Kaymoor mines where Woodson worked.

Park visitors can learn more about Black influences in the New River Gorge area by taking the African American Heritage Auto Tour, which stops at 17 historic sites in four counties. The tour is available through the NPS App.

The Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site in Washington, D.C. is also normally open for visitors. However, it is temporarily closed for renovations.