Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950), the second Black man to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard (after W.E.B. DuBois), is known as “The Father of Black History.” Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 in Chicago. The next year, he started the scholarly Journal of Negro History, which is published to this day under the name Journal of African American History. He launched Black History Week in 1926, which was expanded into Black History Month in 1976.
Can you believe that nearly 50 years later we still focus on Black history only during the month of February? And now some folks don’t even do that—but we do!
Patricia Era Bath (1942-2019)
“Patricia Bath was a groundbreaking Black doctor who invented the Laserphaco Probe, improving treatment for cataract patients. Following her childhood interest in science, she became a doctor and the first Black person to train in ophthalmology at Columbia University in 1969. Bath developed innovative ways to expand eye care access to poor communities, including co-founding the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in 1976, which established that ‘eyesight is a basic human right.’ A decade later, she invented the Laserphaco Probe to better treat cataracts. Bath patented the device in 1988, becoming the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. She died in May 2019 at age 76. In 2022, she became one of the first Black women inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Learn more about her at Biography.com.