Fordham University Libraries is hosting a Douglass Day 2024 today in Walsh Library, on the lower level in room 047.
► Questions? Contact tgleason11@fordham.edu.
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) chose to celebrate his birthday on February 14th. Mary Church Terrell created the first Douglass Day to honor the legacy of Frederick Douglass after his passing.
In 2017, the Colored Conventions Project revived Douglass Day to bring people together to help transcribe 19th century African American collections in libraries and archives to make them free and accessible online.
From the organizers of Douglass Day at the Center for Black Digital Research at Penn State:
"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."
Douglass Day 2024 volunteers will help transcribe 8,731 pages from the general correspondence of Frederick Douglass held by the Library of Congress.
The ability to read cursive handwriting will be helpful for this project.
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