born Dec. 19, 1875, New Canton, Va., U.S.
died April 3, 1950, Washington, D.C.
U.S. historian.
Born into a poor family, he supported himself as a coal miner and was unable to enroll in high school until he was 20. He went on to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In 1915 he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History to encourage the study of African American history; he also edited the association's Journal of Negro History . In the early 1920s he founded Associated Publishers to bring out books on African American life and culture. Among his works was the college text The Negro in Our History (1922).