Preserving the Past, Empowering the Future

As students walked into Room 330 of the Coates Library on Friday, February 13, they were greeted by bright streamers and balloons, the sweet smell from a birthday cake, and a steady clacking as fingers tapped key after key.

The rhythmic typing belonged to participants of the transcribe-a-thon of Douglass Day , an annual, international celebration on February 14 to commemorate the life, legacy, and chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass, a renowned 19th-century abolitionist, author, and orator. The first Douglass Day was celebrated in Washington, D.C., shortly after Frederick Douglass passed away in 1895. The celebration quickly spread across the country, with its focus on remembering and preserving Black history and culture helping to give rise to Black History Month.

Since 2017, the holiday's festivities have featured an international transcribe-a-thon, in which participants can transcribe primary sources related to Black history for the Colored Conventions Project .

This is Trinity's sixth year hosting a campus transcribe-a-thon to take part in this international phenomenon. The event came together through the collaboration of the Arts and Humanities Collective , Coates Library , Student Inclusion and Belonging Office , the African American Studies Program , the Department of History , the Black Student Union , and the TU Voter Engagement Task Force .

For some community members, such as Arts and Humanities Collective Co-Director Sarah Luginbill, Ph.D. , this was their first time hosting the event. Luginbill recognized that the planning, organization, and promotion were "a great reminder of what can be accomplished when people work together and support one another."

For Arts and Humanities Librarian Lacey Brooks-Canales , now participating in her third Douglass Day, preparing for the event has become a tradition in itself. In addition to securing the location for the event, Brooks-Canales ensured participants had access to the essential digital resources and organized a display to market the event.

Brooks-Canales says it's "a joy" to help host an event that offers participants a chance to interact with the smaller, yet no less significant, details of the past.

"We tend to know bigger stories or things, but not the minutiae of what happened in the meeting. It's not necessarily something that you would learn about in class, but it's such an intimate view of history," Brooks-Canales says.

Luginbill agrees that Douglass Day raises awareness about potentially overlooked historical sources and events. To her, even just typing out a few lines from a 19th-century newspaper is an important chance for participants to witness history.

"At times when historical, political, and cultural narratives are highly controlled and presented as homogeneous, it is particularly imperative that we assert our individual ability to engage with the past," Luginbill says.

History and art history major Reese Gilley '27 echoes how significant it was to engage directly with the primary sources. She enjoyed the firsthand and personal nature of history it provided.

"Yeah, you're transcribing, but you're also reading and analyzing and having thoughts of your own about these documents," Gilley says.

The experience was impactful for students outside of the humanities as well. Engineering science major Grant Peterson '27 found transcribing the documents a good opportunity to branch out and try something different. In doing so, he gained a new perspective and a deeper understanding of history.

Being exposed to something new and unfamiliar is central to Douglass Day. Luginbill emphasizes the accessibility of transcribing, through which anyone can contribute to collective memory without any prior experience or knowledge.

"There are no requirements, barriers, or formalities. Everyone can participate," Luginbill says. "This strengthens Trinity's community, offering a space where staff, faculty, students, and even the public can sit side-by-side and work together in a friendly, welcoming environment."

Along with the transcribe-a-thon, participants in the event shared a birthday cake from Tay's Pastries and listened to Douglass' speeches reenacted online in an international live broadcast. They also met with English Professor Jenny Browne, MFA , and Trinity students studying abroad in Belfast, Northern Ireland, over Zoom as they too took part in transcribing.

After participating in all of these activities and festivities, Peterson left the event with a greater appreciation for Douglass and what he stood for.

"Douglass wanted unity among people, and I think now it's more important than ever that we have unity among people here, in our community, and our world," Peterson says. "I think it's cool to just go over what Frederick Douglass wrote and be inspired for the future to try and come back together."