Woodson established the ASALH as a non-profit organization in Chicago on September 9, 1915, to get Black Americans into the nation's history and dedicating it to the study and appreciation of
African-American History. Later incorporated in Washington, D.C. on October
2,
1915 as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) by Woodson and black minister and community leader, Jesse E. Moorland. Woodson took on this initiative, because while studying, he was disturbed to find that history books largely ignored the black American population, and when blacks did figure into the picture, it was generally in ways that reflected the inferior social position they were assigned at the time. So, while participating in the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation in Chicago, in 1915, he recognized the interest and long awaiting lines of people wanting to see the exhibits of the achievements of which blacks had made since slavery and wanted to do more.
