On February 13, 2026, we invite you to join us as we celebrate Douglass Day! In honor of Frederick Douglass, an annual transcribe-a-thon is held on or near his birthday, February 14th, each year. These transcribe-a-thons allow documents in archives related to Black history to be more easily searched and accessed. This year, we will focus on transcribing materials from the Colored Conventions Project. This groundbreaking archive documents how nineteenth-century African Americans organized around critical issues such as voting rights, citizenship, education, labor, racial equality, and so much more.
These documents offer historical insight and a call to action in the face of today’s urgent political crises, from voter suppression to attacks on citizenship and education. Colored Conventions were spaces of collective care and resistance. By engaging these documents together, we hope to illuminate the legacy of Black organizing and contribute to the work still ahead.