Carter G. Woodson, is known as the father of Black history and was responsible for making Black studies an academically respected field of study. Born in 1875, he grew up in abject poverty. He taught himself to read and write and did not receive formal education until his late teens. He graduated from high school in 1896 and taught school for the next 15 years while continuing graduate study. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University, and a Ph.D. from Harvard. Woodson is the author of numerous books on Black history. At the time of Woodson's death in 1950, he was editing a six-volume Encyclopedia Africana. Among his honors is the NAACP Springarn Medal, awarded in 1926.