ABOUT WOODSON FAMILY RECKONING
In 1984, at age 41, Dr. Woodson was shocked to learn that his ancestors in 1619 Jamestown, Virginia enslaved Africans from the early 1600s until 1865. After a period of embarrassed silence, though a friend Bette Cox (Executive Director, Black Experiences Expressed through Music, BEEM Foundation), Craig was able to meet an African American Woodson descendant of those enslaved, Dr. Edgar Woodson. Edgar is the great nephew of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History. As Edgar and Craig gradually realized their connections, they became family. In the 1990s, Craig requested that they hold a public apology ceremony. That event called Sankofa took place in Los Angeles October 11, 1998. Over the next twenty-five years they grew even closer as a family and on February 19, 2023 their story was aired on National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2023/02/19/1154563737/woodsons-slaves-black-history-month-family-heal
This broadcast generated great public interest beginning with over 500,000 downloads of the story the first day it aired. In the next several months Black and white Woodsons began contacting Craig wanting to know more and even begin organizing an anti-racist Woodson family coalition. Since July 2023 these groups have been meeting regularly to collectively reckon with not only the white Woodson history of enslaving Black Woodsons, but also the damage that white Woodsons did to the Native population around Jamestown, specifically, the Pamunkey and Powhatan Confederacies. This work began with acknowledgement of the enslaving history and included learning how to repair the harms that white Woodson ancestors inflicted upon Black Woodson ancestors and Indigenous people. The Woodson family hopes to help provide a model for other American families who need a similar reckoning.
CHRONOLGICAL OUTLINE
A. 1961-Present: Music/African Drumming
B. 1984-1997: Stamp/Bette/Edgar/Preparation
C. 1998: Sankofa meeting
D. 1999-2015: After Sankofa meeting
E. 2016-2023: ASALH/CTTT/drumming book
F. 2023-2025: NPR/Woodson Family Reckoning
A. 1961-Present: Music Education/African Drumming
1. Music/African Drumming 1961-Present
Craig in Ghana 1980
Between 1961 and present, Dr. Craig Woodson had a successful career in music education and African music. He has been to North Africa (1970), completed his master’s degree on jazz drumming (1973), built an African drum making company (1976), performed as a professional drummer (1960-present), worked in Ghana for several years directing a musical instrument making project (1977-1984) and completed his Ph.D. on African drumming and drum making (1983). Beginning in 1974, Craig began presenting school assemblies on African drumming, and in 1990 workshops on African drum making.
B. 1984-1997: Stamp/Bette/Edgar/Preparation
2. Dr. Carter G. Woodson Stamp 1984
Dr. Woodson Stamp 1984
H.M. Woodson
1915 Genealogy
Back from Ghana in 1984, Craig saw a newly-released U.S. stamp celebrating the life and contributions of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History. Though he knew the name of Carter Woodson, Craig did not think he was related. After asking his father about the Black Woodsons, Craig was directed to his family’s 1915 Woodson Genealogy, 760 pages that detail white Woodsons history back to their arrival 1619 Jamestown. While he knew his white Woodson ancestors had arrived that year in Virginia, he was shocked to read that in the 1600s they were also among the first enslavers of Africans in what was to become the United States. He chose to be silent about this with all his friends and colleagues, Black and white.
3. Work with Bette Cox in 1985
Bette Cox with Craig 1998
In 1985, an African American colleague in music education, Bette Cox, asked Craig to be on the board of her Los Angeles-based nonprofit, Black Experiences Expressed Through Music Foundation (BEEM). He had known Bette for many years and they shared an interest in African and African American music.
4. Meeting Dr. Edgar Woodson 1985
With Drs. Aileen and
Edgar Woodson 1998
After months of shame and silence about his connection to African enslavement in America, he eventually told Bette. With her help, Craig met Dr. Edgar Woodson, the great nephew of Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Craig, Edgar and his wife Aileen visited often and soon became friends even after Craig moved from Los Angeles to Cleveland, Ohio in 1989. Eventually they realized that they were probably related but did not have DNA proof at that time. By the mid-1990s Craig requested that their two families hold a public apology ceremony on behalf of Craig’s ancestors. It was to be held on Sunday, October 11, 1998 at Edgar’s church, the Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. The minister at that time was the distinguished and legendary, Reverend James Lawson, the famous Civil Rights pacifist/activist with Dr. Martin Luther King. Upon meeting Craig, Rev. Lawson said, “We need millions of these ceremonies.” Being a significant ceremony of family reckoning, the event was called Sankofa, a Ghanaian word that means, “You cannot move forward without remembering the past.”
5. Before Sankofa Meeting 1997-1998
With Prof. Nketia 2003
As preparations were being made, Craig learned that the Asante (Ashanti) people he had worked with for thirty years in Los Angeles and in Ghana for three years, were some of the first enslavers in Africa. With this disturbing information, Craig asked his Ghanaian UCLA mentor, Prof. J. Kwabena Nketia if it were true, he said it was. Nketia went on to say, “It [African enslavement] is hard for us to talk about it,” hence, he said the lack of discussion.
At that time, Craig was also a member of the Asante Cultural Society in Los Angeles headed by Sam Appiah, a civil engineer.
Afi Scruggs
Sam was also head of all Asante people in the U.S. and consequently had the title, Nana Osei Tutu, named after the first chief of the Asante in the 1600s. Edgar and Craig visited Sam to invite him to the Sankofa meeting. He agreed to attend with his Asante family and local relatives. That meeting was particularly momentous in that Sam, Edgar and Craig represented the three primary participants during enslavement.
In June 1997, a year before Sankofa, reporter, friend and student of Craig’s, Afi Scruggs, published a preview of the upcoming meeting in the local Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Metro Section."
On a business trip to New York City, Craig made contact with Tony Riddle who worked at Black Entertainment Television (BET). He is the great-great-great grandson of Anne Elisa Riddle, the mother of Carter G. Woodson. While Tony could not attend the upcoming meeting, his brother Diallo was in Los Angeles and agreed to come.
Tony Riddle 1998
When Craig began to introduce the idea of a meeting to his immediate family saying that it would include an apology for white Woodson enslaving, some of his family members voiced concerns, saying they did want to be yelled at and made to feel responsible, "for something we did not do." Craig assured them it would be not only civil but very important for our family and the country. They all came to the meeting.
At the last-minute, friends of Craig were able to provide several videographers including Sam Dlugach and a photographer, Alfred Benjamin to document the event. Craig was also able to borrow some Ghanaian Adowa Atumpan drums from U.C.L.A. for him and others to play at the meeting.
C. 1998: Sankofa Meeting
6. Woodson Family Sankofa Meeting 1998
Sankofa Attendees 1998
The Sunday meeting on October 11, 1998 began with the white Woodsons attending the 11 a.m. morning service at the Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles and being introduced to the congregation. Members of the church were invited to our Sankofa Woodson meeting.
Apology
The Woodson meeting at 1 p.m. was attended by Black and white Woodsons, Asante friends, colleagues of Craig’s including Bette Cox and family, Diallo Riddle, and a few members of the Church. Craig began by playing a “welcome” on the Atumpan talking drums. After an opening prayer by Rev. Paul Hill, Craig offered an emotional apology to Edgar, his family and ancestors, saying “I apologize for holocaust enslavement caused by my white family’s ancestors to your family’s ancestors.” He walked to Edgar and they embraced. Later Edgar responded to Craig’s apology saying that we need to recognize what happened but then move on.
Seeking any comments from the audience, Craig asked the group if anyone remembered the first time they saw difference in people, especially regarding skin tone. There was silence. In this vacuum, Craig offered his story: At the dinner table, at age 9 in segregated Kentucky, Craig naively said to Mattie, his mother’s African American ‘house helper,’ “I am the salt and you are the pepper.” Embarrassed that he just saw her color, Craig broke out crying and ran to his room. Mattie followed and consoled him.
Edgar
This story was enough to bring several audience members to the podium to tell their own stories. These comments included a wide variety of situations from personal interactions of an inter-racial couple (Bette Cox’s daughter, Carol Alston-Gillis), to stories of Black achievement in academia (Dr. Josie Bains), law, music and sports (Dr. Loren Woodson), spiritual comments of ministers, and apologies from other white Woodsons, including Craig’s father, Thomas Woodson.
Mattie with Craig 1966
Edgar and his family came to the front to acknowledge this meeting’s need, especially in America at this time. White Woodsons and Sam’s family also came forward to make statements.
During the next portion of the ceremony, “Gift Giving,” Craig gave Edgar’s family framed photos of Dr. Carter Woodson’s stamp and a small statue of the Sankofa bird. His sister, Claire, gave a small clock with various shades of wood to Edgar and family saying this meeting was “about time.”
Dr. Josie Bains
Asante family member, Osei Appiah, also made comments about the religious elements of this meeting and hoped that all Woodsons and Asantes can now become brothers and sisters. The meeting closed with Sam Appiah pouring libations in honor of Dr. Carter G. Woodson and then Adowa drumming that included members of the Asante family, Osei, with Diallo Riddle (Right of Craig) and Loren Woodson (Left of Craig).
The last two photos below first show most Sankofa attendees and then second show only Woodsons.
D. 1999-2015: AFTER SANKOFA MEETING
7. Norma Downs After Sankofa 1999
Norma and Craig on TV 1999
Four months after the October 1998 Woodson Family meeting, an acclaimed Cleveland-area TV host, storyteller, and friend of Craig's, Norma Downs, interviewed him and aired it in February 1999. In her “Sit Down with Norma” show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrZdjkuPtX4, Ms. Downs asks Craig to describe the meeting and what it meant to him. She also showed footage of the apology ceremony to give a sense of the impact it had on those who attended.
8. Craig at Brett’s Birth 2003
Craig with Baby Brett
For the years following the Sankofa meeting, Craig and his family stayed in touch with Edgar’s family. Craig got to know Edgar’s daughter, Adele, and later her son, Brett who was born in 2003. Brett recently graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
9. Thelma ‘Granny’ Woodson Phillips 2014
With Thelma “Granny” Phillips (Woodson) Family Lunch 2014
In 2003, Craig met Edgar’s sister Thelma ‘Granny’ Woodson Phillips and her family living in Lima, Ohio (far left, front row). Staying in touch, by 2011 Thelma’s family became celebrated at Juneteenth events in Cleveland, Ohio led by Lynn Hampton, a close friend of Craig’s. In 2014 Craig hosted Thelma’s family for a day at his home (photo).
10. Adele and Craig’s Fund Raising 2015
Adele’s and Craig’s Fundraiser 2015
In 2015, Adele and Craig made a video appeal for funds through Go Fund Me to be able to finance more Woodson meetings as well as a production of a final video from the 1998 Sankofa meeting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKwowAt25u4
11. Drums of Humanity.org - 2015
With Irina Shiyanovskaya and Baba David
In 2009 Craig and friend, Dr. Irina Shiyanovskaya started Drums of Humanity, an organization devoted to Craig’s drum circle therapy work, documentary videos, and the Woodson Family Reckoning. By 2015 they had established non-profit 501(c)(3) status and had a website, www.DrumsofHumanity.org. That organization is now part of Craig’s current site, www.CraigWoodsonPhD.com.
E. 2016-2023: ASALH/CTTT/AMERICAN AFRICAN DRUMMING
12. CTTT Training 2016
Coming to The Table 2016
On the recommendation of a colleague in 2016, Craig took the training to become a facilitator for meetings of Coming to The Table (CTTT), a national organization that brings former enslavers together with former enslaved for dialogue, reckoning and repair. Craig joined two groups meeting monthly in Los Angeles, one in Santa Monica led by the late Fran Sutton-Williams and one in Pasadena led by Wilson Bell.
13. Met Michelle Oliver (Woodson) ASALH 2016
With Michelle Oliver at ASALH 2016
In 2015, while giving a lecture at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee, Craig was introduced to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) by members of the local branch. ASALH is the scholarly Black History organization that Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded in 1915. The local Memphis branch members suggested that Craig contact Ms. Barbara Dunn, Vice-President of ASALH Membership. She enthusiastically invited Craig to present the Woodson Sankofa Family story at the next 2016 National Conference. During that Conference Craig met Michelle Oliver, a Black Woodson. Years later they would find that they were DNA-related cousins. He also met Denise Bell (Woodson, see #15 below) at this conference, the three stayed in touch, and later reconnected in person in 2023.
14. Craig’s First ASALH Conference 2016
Craig’s First ASALH Presentation 2016
In 2016 Craig became a member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH.org), the Black History organization, formed by Dr. Carter Woodson in 1915. In 2016, Craig became Treasurer of the Cleveland Branch of ASALH and soon began presenting papers at ASALH national conferences both on the Woodson Sankofa story and on African drumming. In 2022 with the Covid pandemic, Craig became president of the Cleveland, Ohio ASALH Branch with zooms but recently live meetings.
15. Woodsons at Dr. Carter G. Woodson Home Opening 2017
Woodsons at Dr. Woodson Home Opening, 2017
At the Dr. Carter Woodson Home Opening 2017, all Woodson relatives were asked to pose as a group. Craig is currently working with Pat LaBauve (6th from right front row), Denise Bell (7th from right front row) and Michelle Evans Oliver (4th from right back row).
16. Dr. Carter G. Woodson Home Opens 2017
Dr. Carter Woodson Home, Baba David and Craig Drumming 2017
At the invitation of Barbara Dunn, Vice-President of Membership for ASALH, the late Baba David Coleman and Craig performed for the private opening by the National Park Service of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson home and office in Washington, D.C. The public opening will be announced later next year. Baba David and Craig also played African drums and conducted drum making workshops in the area.
17. ASALH Cleveland Branch 2017
Adowa Cleveland Branch 2017
In 2016, Craig joined the Cleveland Branch of ASALH and became Treasurer. In 2017 he presented his Adowa drumming program at a meeting that included member participation. He became President of this Branch in 2022.
In 2018, Craig began annually presenting Woodson Family and African drumming papers and/or workshops for Dr. Burnis Morris, Director of the Dr. Carter G. Woodson Lyceum at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
18. Michelle Evans Oliver/Craig’s DNA Match 2020
Shared DNA with Michelle Oliver 2020
In 2020, Michelle Evans Oliver (Woodson) discovered that they shared DNA through their GED Match number. The outcome was ‘Significant’ (photo) at “3.9” (not shown). Documentation of this event shows photos from a zoom that included Michelle (bottom) Ms. Barbara Dunn of ASALH (middle).
19. Black History 365 Published 2020
Black History 365
In 2021, the high school textbook Black History 365 was published. On a 2022 zoom call with one of the co-authors, Dr. Joel Freeman, Dr. Woodson pointed out the missing story of African American drumming, there were only a few pages on the subject. Because of this, Dr. Freeman asked Craig to write a “supplement” to the BH365 book on the missing subject. That book on African American drumming is now in process and expected to be completed in 2026.
20. On Dr. Carter Woodson’s Wiki Site 2021
In 2021, an unknown person added the 1998 Woodson Sankofa meeting and follow-up story to Dr. Carter Woodson’s Wikipedia article under the last section titled, “Legacy:”
“In 1998, musician and ethnomusicologist Craig Woodson (once of the experimental rock band The United States of America), arranged a ceremony to apologize for his white ancestors' involvement in the slavery that had oppressed members of Carter G. Woodson's family. Following the reconciliation, both sides of the family developed the Black White Families Reconciliation (BWFR) Protocol, using the creative arts, particularly drumming and storytelling, with the aim of healing racial divides within Black and white families who share a surname. ("Black-white Woodson Reconciliation," Drums of Humanity, October 2, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2021.)
F. 2023-2025: NPR/Woodson Family Reckoning
21. On National Public Radio 2023
NPR Radio Code Switch Interview
and Article 2023
In 2022 Sandya Dirks, a reporter at National Public Radio heard about the 1998 Woodson Family meeting and asked Craig for an interview along with comments from other Black and white Woodson family members about their experiences. The 35-minute radio interview first aired along with a lengthy article on February 19, 2023 on the program “Code Switch.” That day there were over 500,000 downloads of this story.
22. Organize Black and white Woodsons 2023
Woodson Planning Group Zoom 2025
Within a week of the NPR piece Craig started receiving calls from Black and white Woodsons around the U.S. wanting to get involved in the Woodson family work. By July 2023 weekly zoom groups of Woodsons came together. At the beginning, Black Woodsons preferred to be considered advisors to white Woodsons to start with, noting that the latter needed to personalize and organize the reckoning and repair of their history. At the center of the Woodson Family is a Woodson Planning Group (WPG) of six Black and white Woodsons (photo). The WPG’s work has been to establish the Woodson Family’s Mission Statement and plan the larger Woodson zooms as well as in-person family reunions. There are currently four working Woodson groups:
1. Woodson Planning Group – six Black and white Woodsons zooming weekly
2. African American Woodson Advisors – all Black Woodsons zooming monthly
3. European Woodson Group – all white Woodsons zooming every two weeks
4. All Woodson Group – all Black and white Woodson members zooming monthly
Members of the WPG include genealogists, a lawyer, an anthropologist, historians, an ethnomusicologist, a dermatologist and an anti-racist organizer.
Some non-Woodsons have been asked to join meetings because of their individual connections to Woodsons and/or specialized contributions to the Woodson mission. While Craig has been making presentations about the 1998 Sankofa meeting since 2015, Woodson Planning Group members have presented academic papers about the recent and related work at three ASALH national conferences, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Two significant Family reunions have taken place on Juneteenth in Montgomery, Alabama (2024) and Richmond, Virginia (2025).
23. ASALH Conference, Pittsburgh, PA 2024
ASALH Pittsburgh Booth September 2024
At the ASALH 2024 national conference members of our WPG attended, we had a poster, a booth (photo), promoted our mission and Craig presented two papers including a drum-making workshop (photo).
ASALH Pittsburgh Drum Making Workshop September 2024
24. Juneteenth, Montgomery, AL 2024
Woodsons at the Wall of Names
A family reunion took place on sacred grounds in Montgomery, Alabama on Juneteenth in 2024. One of the WPG members who worked with Bryan Stephenson at the Equal Justice Initiative and on the Legacy Museum, hosted our group of eight. We also visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (sculptural documentation of African American lynching) and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. At the Sculpture Park there is a wall of 122,000 names representing some of the millions of newly-freed Black people in 1870; those names also represent the families of white enslavers. The photo shows our group in front of the wall several feet under the Woodson name.
25. Juneteenth, Richmond, VA 2025
Woodsons at the Black History Museum Juneteenth
Members of our Woodson Planning Group presented aspects of the Woodson Family story at the Black History Museum in Richmond, Virginia on Juneteenth. Our family of over 20 Woodsons also toured Black Woodson cemeteries, visited the birth site of Dr. Carter Woodson in New Canton, VA, and saw Flowerdew One Hundred, the original Woodson plantation site. Among the subjects in our face-to-face group meetings, we discussed the decades-long work of Black Woodsons who have been uncovering the lineages of African American descendants. We have also reached out to the Pamunkey Confederacy to begin repair of the harm that white Woodsons caused that Nation beginning in the 1600s.
26. All Woodson Zooms
As the Woodson Family mission evolved, they found that it was important to have All Woodsons come together more regularly. These zooms included non-Woodson friends and advisors. Recently over 70 new members have shown interest in joining which could bring our numbers to nearly 100. This is a small number considering that there are nearly 20,000 people in the U.S. with the last name Woodson. Fifty-four percent are African American and forty-two percent are European American.
27. Donation of Akan Drums 2025
Craig’s Akan Drum Replicas Donated to the Black History Museum on Juneteenth 2025
At the Black History Museum luncheon in Richmond, Virginia on Juneteenth, Craig donated two replicas of the 1735 “Akan Drum.” This musical instrument, now housed in the British Museum, is one of the oldest artifacts from enslavement. It probably came on a ship of African captives from Ghana, West Africa around 1700. These two drums were part of Craig’s collection that were constructed in Ghana at the Musical Instrument Technology Workshop in Kumasi where he was Director. The drums were constructed by drum carver Mr. James Owusu. The larger Akan Drum was intended for display only, the smaller drum was for Museum attendees to play. These drums were accepted by Shakia Gullette Warren, the Museum’s Director on Juneteenth 2025, and curated by Mary Lauderdale.
28. Display of Akan Drum 2025
Akan drum displayed at Fort Monroe, Port Comfort, VA
Mary Lauderdale, curator at the Black History Museum in Richmond, Virginia, displayed the Museum’s smaller Akan Drum replica for folks to play. This was the second known showing of the Akan drum since it was taken from Virginia by Sir Hans Sloan to the British Museum in 1735. The first showing was at the American Bicentennial in 1976 in Washington, DC. Ms. Lauderdale included a photo and brief written history of the drum. Craig has plans to expand the visibility of this culturally important historical musical instrument from African enslavement.
29. New Craig Woodson Website Launch 2025
Craig Woodson Website
Launched November 2025
In November 2025, Craig launched a new website that combines his work in music education and his progress with the Woodson Family Reckoning to summer 2025.