It doesn’t take much to recognize a problem, and complain about it. But it takes real dedication, and a commitment to excellence to solve one.
That’s why Carter G. Woodson makes my list of individuals who not only Think different but do different.
Woodson wasn’t the first to notice that the accomplishments of African Americans were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them, but he was the first to do something significant about it.
He believed that by educating African Americans about the accomplishments of their race it would encourage them to set higher standards, overcome racism, and achieve more. So with the help of the Boston chapter of his fraternity (and mine) Omega Psi Phi they began to distribute educational flyers for one week each year in February. That effort grew into what we now know as Black History Month.
Thank you Carter G. Woodson for thinking different.