LANSING, Mich. — Wednesday is National Frederick Douglass Day, celebrating a former slave who became a well known abolitionist, activist, author and speaker.
At Michigan State University, they’re joining a nationwide effort to honor his legacy by transcribing thousands of pages of his writings.
He’s known as the father of the abolitionist movement. Frederick Douglass died February 20, 1895, but his work lives on.
“There's 8,000 documents that the Library of Congress has put together in this set of materials that we're hoping collectively, nationally to transcribe,” said Kristen Mapes, Assistant Director of Digital Humanities at MSU.
Since 2017, a national transcribe-a-thon has been underway with the goal of translating douglass’ physical records into an online collection of Black history and culture. It’s done every year on February 14.
“Because Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and did not know the date of his actual birthday, he chose February 14 as his birthday,” explained Mapes.
This is the first year MSU will be participating. Sorting through historical letters and shedding light on the correspondence that Frederick Douglas had with many people. Once they’re able to successfully transcribe everything, the documents will be digitized. Making it easier to search and comprehend for people in the future
“They'll be able to know what was written without needing to relearn 19th century cursive and that sort of thing as a barrier,” said Mapes.
The transcribe-a-thon will take place from 12 p.m.- 3 p.m. Wednesday in MSU Main Library’s’ Digital Scholarship Lab classroom.
It's open to everyone and will include a cake in honor of Douglass’ chosen birthday from black-owned bakery Sweet Encounter.
