Today's Transcribe-a-thon celebrates Douglass

Submitted by cleveland on

The UGA Libraries is participating in a massive, international online transcribe-a-thon today, Feb. 14, the day African American activist Frederick Douglass chose as his birthday. There's still time to join in -- until 3 pm!transcribe-a-thon

The working celebration marks Douglass’ 200th birthday.This effort, organized by the Colored Convention Project, benefits the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), and the Smithsonian Transcription Center, toward their goal to transcribe 19th-century records from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, known as the Freedmen's Bureau. UGA joined more than 60 host groups and 1,400 individuals helping to digitally preserve the documents from this crucial humanitarian program.

Participants will learn how Douglass, one of the most powerful proponents of the Colored Conventions Movement, also contributed to the Bureau’s work attending to the well-being of formerly enslaved Blacks left destitute after the American Civil War.