(NEXSTAR) – Despite its official government recognition in 1975, scholars say Black History Month started decades earlier with the work of historian and author Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson, who was born in 1875, worked in West Virginia coal mines and on the farm of his parents, both illiterate former slaves, according to the NAACP. Despite limited formal schooling, Woodson found time to educate himself, earning his high school diploma in under two years. He would go on to earn a master's degree at the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. In February 1926, Woodson created Negro History Week. It was a weeklong celebration in an effort to teach people about African-American history and the contributions of Black people. This effort was made under the umbrella of an organization he founded in September 1915 called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or ASALH. “I think Black folks understood what they had contributed to America’s historical narrative, but no one was talking about it,” said Kaye Whitehead, the organization’s president. “No one was centralizing it until Dr. Carter G. Woodson was in 1926.” Woodson's determination and vision would influence future generations in various ways. "When there were no academic journals to counter racist scholarship, he created one," according to an article published by the National Museum of American History. "When there were no professional presses that would accept materials about African Americans, he created one. What is now called 'The Journal of African American History,' Associated Publishers, and what became known as 'Black History Month' are among the crown jewels of his legacy." After he passed away in 1950, the members of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, which Dr. Woodson was a member of, did a lot of groundwork to encourage celebrating the week. The fraternity was also responsible for the push to extend the celebrations to a full month. Eventually, in 1976, President Gerald Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing the month. Since then, presidents have made annual proclamations for National Black History Month. The Associated Press contributed to this report.