The Resume

(December 19, 1875-April 3, 1950)
Born in New Canton, Virginia
Historian
Established the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (1915)
Founded 'The Journal of Negro History' (1915)
Wrote 'A Century of Negro Migration' (1918), 'The History of the Negro Church' (1921), 'The Negro in Our History' (1922), 'Negro Makers of History' (1928), 'The Mis-Education of the Negro' (1933) and 'African Heroes and Heroines' (1939)
Proclaimed 'Negro History Week' (February, 1926), the precursor of Black History Month
Known as 'the father of black history'

Why he might be annoying:

He did not attend high school until he was 20.
He wrote that for the sake of 'social progress' jazz music needed to be 'stamped out as an evil.'
He wrote his books and articles quickly, rarely editing to improve their readability. (Or as another author put it, Woodson 'did not take pains to save the reader pains.')

Why he might not be annoying:

He was the son of slaves.
Three years after graduating from Douglass High School, he was named its principal.
He was the second African-American, after W.E.B. Du Bois, to earn a doctorate from Harvard.
He joined with Du Bois to advocate a 'Don't Buy Where You Can't Work' campaign to boycott businesses that refused to hire black employees.
He was mugged for $5 while returning from research at the Library of Congress (1931).
He wrote, 'If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don’t have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Black Heritage Commemorative Stamp Series (Ranked: 1984)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 59]
• Google Modified Its Logo For My Birthday (Google Doodles)
• Historians
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [U-Z]
• I Attended Harvard
• I Attended University of Chicago
• I Died in 1950 (Ranked: 74)
• I Earned a Doctorate
• Look at Me, I'm Reading
• Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
• Profiles 37251-37500 (Ranked: 37265)
• Spingarn Medal Winners (Ranked: 1926)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying