Annual Douglass Day Celebration

What’s Douglass Day? 

Born enslaved, Frederick Douglass emancipated himself at the age twenty and quickly became one of the preeminent intellectuals and activists of the nineteenth century. Although he never knew his birth date, he chose to celebrate every year on February 14th.

Every year, the Center for Black Digital Research at the Pennsylvania State University facilitates an international transcription event (“transcribe-a-thon”) featuring historical materials relevant to Black history.

Together with libraries and digital scholarship centers across the nation and beyond, Cornell University Library celebrates this date as a moment for creating and preserving Black history together. Learn more about the annual Douglass Day celebration.

Transcribe-a-thon Details

The 2025 international Douglass Day Transcribe-a-thon will feature the African American Perspectives Collection at the Library of Congress. Here is a brief description of the materials in this collection from the Library of Congress website:

“The 800 + titles in the collection include sermons on racial pride and political activism; annual reports of charitable, educational, and political organizations; and college catalogs and graduation orations from the Hampton Institute, Morgan College, and Wilberforce University. Also included are biographies, slave narratives, speeches by members of Congress, legal documents, poetry, playbills, dramas, and librettos. Other materials focus on segregation, voting rights, violence against African Americans, the colonization of Africa by freed slaves, anti-slavery organizations and investigative reports. Several of the items are illustrated with portraits of the authors.”

Volunteers like you will transcribe pages from the collection and make them available to all. We’ll also enjoy birthday cake, music, and a good time! 

How to Participate  

• Drop into Olin Library and choose a digital document to transcribe. No experience needed. We’ll be there to answer questions.  Bring your own laptop, or use one of ours. 
• Explore previous generations’ work for racial justice and enjoy camaraderie with others from Cornell. 
• Listen to musical performances and inspiring speakers during the national livestream. 
• Share birthday cake from Rashida Sawyer Bakery of downtown Ithaca. 

Contact Information

Questions? Contact digitalcolab@cornell.edu.