Support Douglass Day
Giving
To make a gift to support Douglass Day, please visit the UC Santa Barbara English Department website: give.ucsb.edu/english. In the drop down menu, select “Douglass Day.”
If you would like to make a donation by check, please make your check payable to: UC Santa Barbara Foundation with a note that this gift supports the Department of English’s Douglass Day initiative. Mail your check to:
Leslie Gray, Senior Director of Development
Office of Development
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2013
For more information, please contact Leslie Gray at leslie.gray@ucsb.edu or 805-893-4193.
Learn about Douglass Day
Douglass Day is a holiday that sparked Black History Month. In 2017, a group of faculty and students began an effort to revive this holiday as a day of action for Black history. Since then, the Douglass Day team has engaged 50,000 people at over a thousand locations. Not just learning history; we make history.
Douglass Day has been featured in scores print, radio, TV, and online outlets, ranging from Smithsonian Magazine and Good Morning America to local televised news and newspapers.
About our growing team of faculty, students, staff, and community partners
Douglass Day happens in one day, but it takes all year to get ready! Learn more about the growing team of faculty, graduate students, staff, and partners who create all the pieces for each year’s grand celebration.
Wait, why do we have a cake contest during Black History Month?
Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and never knew his actual birthday in 1818. When the famed orator and leader grew older, his family began to celebrate every year on Valentine’s Day as a lighthearted day to celebrate their elder. After his death, teachers led by Mary Church Terrell in Washington, DC saw an opportunity to begin holding events to mark this birthday as a counterpart to President’s Day. Soon, Douglass Day spread across the country to schools, churches, and community gatherings of all time.
Douglass Day eventually gave rise to Black History Month. That’s why it’s in February!
We aim to return to the origins of Black History Month. It is a day of action and fun. We want students (of all ages) to learn about these hard histories, but we also want them to learn about the moments in the past when inspiring leaders found resilience and even fun and joy in their lives. What is freedom if we can’t enjoy ourselves?
See just some of the greatest birthday cakes for Frederick Douglass in our Bake Off!
