On October 11, 2011, Berea College Board of Trustees authorized funds for the establishment of the Carter G. Woodson Center for Interracial Education. The Center strives to foster communication around Berea College’s Great Commitment: To assert the kinship of all people and provide interracial education with a particular emphasis on understanding and equality among blacks and whites as a foundation for building community among all peoples of the earth. The center regularly hosts events that aim to foster a greater understanding of race, diversity, and inclusion such as True Racial Understanding through Honest Talks (T.R.U.T.H.) and an annual Dr. Martin Luther KIng Jr. celebration.
Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) is a graduate of the Berea College Class of 1903 and is also known as the “Father of Black History.” Woodson received a Bachelor of Literature degree from Berea College in 1903 following completion of all necessary academic requirements at the University of Chicago. Woodson continued his education at the University of Chicago where in addition to a second bachelor degree, he earned a Master’s degree in European History in 1908. Woodson continued his studies at the Sarbonne in Paris and at Harvard University where he earned a Ph.D. in history in 1921. He became the second African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, following this same academic accomplishment by Dr. W. E. B. DuBois in 1907.
