On February 13, a celebration was held to commemorate the 207th birthday of Frederick Douglas, a renowned author and abolitionist. The event, which took place from 12-4pm, was co-sponsored and organized by the Popel Shaw Center for Race and Ethnicity and the Waidner Spahr Library. This is the second year this event has been held at Dickinson and has been well attended both years. The celebration was a part of a national movement to recognize not only the birthday of Douglass, but to celebrate Black History. As a part of this national movement, transcription events have become a common part of these celebrations.
Dickinson’s event featured music, crafts and even a birthday cake for Douglass. While all aspects of the event were important and sparked joy in the attendees, the “transcribathon” was the central feature.
The goal of the “transcribathon” is to make historical documents available in a searchable database so that our knowledge of Black history can be persevered, as Malinda Triller-Doran, a Dickinson librarian and co-organizer of the event said.
Triller-Doran explained that each year the “transcribathons” are centered around different themes and this year the focus was newspaper articles that detailed the “Colored Conventions Movement” that took place across the US and Canada. The goal of transcribing these articleswas to allow them to be in-put into a searchable data base, making the information more accessible for future generations.
While the event was hosted by Dickinson, it was open to all members of the Carlisle community. Triller-Doran characterized the attendance as “people of all ages working to build community.”
Rev. Yvette Davis, Director of the Popel Shaw Center, detailed the vision for the event. “The other hope is that if we increase the visibility of Fredrick Douglas, we can look at his contemporaries, look at leaders after him,” said Davis. She also explained that this event is also timely as “we need to realize that our freedom is not to be taken for granted.”
When asked what she hoped people would take with them when they left the event, Davis said, “When we step outside of the 21st century, and place ourselves in a different time period and immerse ourselves in documents, the past comes to life, and we get touched by it in a way that a lecture and a text book might not do. I always hope that these types of things show people that their stories matter.”
Both the planning and execution of this event are prime examples of the power and life of community and Dickinson. This event is scheduled to occur next year on Frederick Douglass’s birthday and all Dickinson and Carlisle community members are encouraged to attend again.
