Conn celebrates Douglass Day

Students, faculty and staff dropped into Shain Library on Feb. 14 to help transcribe minutes from a 19th-century meeting in New Haven that occurred as part of the Colored Conventions, a series of state and national political meetings that African Americans held in the 1800s. 

The event was covered by The Day.

Jessica McCullough, director of research support and curricular technology at Conn, led the College’s transcription project, which marked Douglass Day, a “collective action for Black history” run by college professors, Ph.D. students and librarians across the country, according to The Day newspaper.

Born enslaved and not knowing the actual day of his birth, abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass chose Feb. 14 to celebrate as his birthday, known as Douglass Day, which each year focuses on a different collection of Black history.

According to The Day, the transcription process involved typing out the words of 19th-century texts that were scanned and uploaded, which McCullough said will make these documents “part of this corpus of transcribed materials for scholars to search.”

To learn more, visit zooniverse.org and go to the “Transcribe Colored Conventions.” As of early Monday evening, there were 423 volunteers and the project was 50% complete.