By Imani Pope-Johns
Today, Howard University faculty, students and staff of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center will join people across the country and around the world to celebrate Douglass Day. In honor of the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass, members of the public, including teachers and students, are invited to join an online crowdsourcing project that will preserve and create African American history. The transcribe-a-thon takes place from noon – 3 p.m. and will be live-streamed by DouglassDay.org on their YouTube channel.
“We collaborated on the transcribe-a-thon because it is a great way to engage the wider community and it will help improve access to Anna Julia Cooper’s papers on Digital Howard. As a result of the project, handwritten documents will now be searchable,” says Lopez Matthews, Ph.D., manager of the Digital Production Center at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. He will be leading the effort for Howard University.
“As a leading voice in the abolition of slavery and a pivotal figure in the founding and development of Howard University, Frederick Douglass is someone that is dear to our heart,” says Matthews.
The headquarters for the event will be Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center where the Anna Julia Cooper Collection is held. More than 50 Howard University participants have registered to offer their time to help bring history to digital life. This effort is in partnership with nearly 1,000 people at 35 locations across North America and Europe.
“As one of the leading Black feminist scholars of the 20th century, the work and legacy of Anna Julia Cooper needs to be more well known. Any project that seeks to increase the knowledge of her work is always welcome,” said Matthews.
This year, Douglass Day will feature a new crowdsourcing project that focuses on Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964), a visionary Black feminist, teacher, leader, and intellectual. The project will be available online starting February 14. The 2020 edition of Douglass Day is a partnership between numerous universities, research groups, and public-school districts.
“It shows that people do care about supporting humanities project,” says Matthews.
Partners include:
- Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University
- Anna Julia Cooper Digital Project
- Colored Conventions Project
- Princeton University Center for Digital Humanities
- The Pennsylvania State University Libraries, Center for Humanities and Information, and College of Liberal Arts
Presentations will be shared by local schools and organizations in Washington, D.C., including Dunbar High School, the Xi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and Soul Sistas musical group.
