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Hagerstown Community College will hold a Douglass Day Celebration on Wednesday, February 14, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., in the Learning Resource Center, room 122.
Guests are invited to participate in a transcribe-a-thon, focused on the correspondence of Fredrick Douglass from the Library of Congress. Locations nationwide will hold simultaneous transcribe-a-thons to contribute this year's attempt to transcribe all 8,731 pages in one day! The main activity will be transcribing the words in a variety of documents (letters, diaries, certificates and postcards) to make them more accessible for researchers. Anyone can help transcribe these historical records. No experience is needed, and tutorials and instructions will be provided.
In 2024, we are going to transcribe the Frederick Douglass Papers: General Correspondence, 1841 to 1912 in the archives of the Library of Congress. This collection is extraordinarily rich. It includes public letters, intimate family moments, and much more. These letters show us the many versions of Frederick Douglass across so many parts of his long and storied lifetime fighting for Black rights and citizenship.
This project is co-presented with the Library of Congress and the By The People crowdsourcing platform.
A live broadcast from www.douglassday.org, featuring speakers, performances, and a birthday cake baking contest, will be available from 12 to 3 p.m., via YouTube.
This event is free and open to the public.
Here at Hagerstown Community College, students, faculty, staff, and the public are invited to help bring African American history to digital life. This gathering joins forces with dozens of locations across North America & Europe.
For more information, please visit douglassday.org.
Douglass Day is a collective action for Black history. Each year, we feature a different collection of Black history. We invite you to learn about the Douglass Day principles and the longer history of Douglass Day.
After Frederick Douglass passed away in 1895, African American communities gathered to celebrate his birthday every year on February 14th. These memorials offered a space for reflection on the past and the questions of today. Douglass Day was one of the origins of Black History Month. In 2017, the Colored Conventions Project revived these celebrations as an annual day for preserving Black history. This year, we will hold a transcribe-a-thon will focus on Fredrick Douglass himself! All are invited!
During these events, we can help enhance digitized archives. We’ll have food, music, and a fun time! Our main activity will be transcribing the words in all sorts of documents (from letters and diaries to certificates and postcards). Don’t feel comfortable reading old handwriting? Try working in pairs. There’s also lots of typewritten documents that are easier to read. Tutorials and guides will be provided. Let’s dive in!
Estimated totals: 31,668 people in 625 locations
Douglass Day is made possible by a large number of partners and supporters. They include: The Center for Black Digital Research at Penn State, the Colored Conventions Project, the Anna Julia Cooper Digital Project, the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, the Princeton University Center for Digital Humanities, the PSU Libraries, the PSU Center for Humanities and Information, and the PSU College of Liberal Arts, the American Studies Association for a Community Partnership Grant, Zooniverse, and By The People at the Library of Congress. Learn more about the organizing team.
Wednesday, Feb 14
12 pm - 3 PM EST
Hagerstown Community College Learning Resource Center, Room 122
OR Livestream the event via Douglass Day on YouTube Live
Written instructions and video tutorials will help everyone learn how to transcribe and contribute.
Hundreds of people from institutions, organizations, independent groups and as individuals will congregate simultaneously for this event, including high school students, college and university students, public library users, museum patrons, student groups, amateur historians and genealogists, librarians, archivists, scholars, teachers, activists, church goers, and other volunteers across the United States and around the world.
An online and international celebration of Frederick Douglass’s birthday through a transcribe-a-thon of Fredrick Douglass's correspondences. Live performances, and singing will be on hand at many locations.
In honor of Frederick Douglass, along with Black men and women activists of the past and present.
library@hagerstowncc.edu
240-500-2237
@DouglassDayorg
@DigBlk
use #DouglassDay
Douglass Day
Center for Black Digital Research at the Pennsylvania State University
Library of Congress and the By The People crowdsourcing platform
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