Saturday Woodson Luncheon Speakers are Maurice J. Hobson, Eddie R. Cole Jr., Jim C. Harper II, and Derrick P. Alridge, authors of the book With Faith in God and Heart and Mind: A History of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
Topic for the Luncheon Talk: “An Unusual Emphasis on Scholarship: Carter G. Woodson. Omega Psi Phi, and the Power of Black History.”
This discussion will focus on the fact that during the 1920 Conclave (December 27, 1920), ASALH founder Dr. Carter G. Woodson emphasised how scholarly development paralleled and intersected with the history of Omega Psi Phi. His speech titled “Democracy and the Man Far Down” focused on the need for Black people to learn about Black history and to develop an autonomous economic base by establishing businesses that employed Black people. Omega Psi Phi heard him and admired his speech–which is arguably the foundation stone for his most far-reaching and widely read book, “The Miseducation of the Negro (1933). Also, during the 1920 speech, Woodson placed Omega Psi Phi at the forefront of what certain scholars today call the early Black History movement by focusing on the newest iteration of Omega Psi Phi’s history.
