Douglass Day 2026 at Penn State Campuses

Dark blue textured background; white text with event details; drawing of convention meeting across the bottom

About Douglass Day

Every Valentine’s Day, we invite you to a birthday party for Frederick Douglass. Although Douglass never knew his birthdate, he chose to celebrate every year on February 14th.This year, we’ll be celebrating Frederick Douglass’ chosen birthday on Friday, Feb. 13th. We celebrate this date as a moment for creating Black history together. Douglass Day is presented by a handful of collaborating organizations, and hosted by the Center for Black Digital Research.

This year features the papers of the Colored Conventions and their visions for citizenship.Transcribing activities will happen on the Zooniverse platform. Links will be available on February 13th.

How can I get involved?

  1. Host an event of your own (see our organizing kit for lots of resources)
  2. Join an event at one of the Penn State campuses (see below)
  3. Bring Douglass Day to your class (see our teaching page)
  4. Join us online from wherever you are

Penn State Campus Events

All events taking place 12-3PM unless otherwise listed.

Don’t see your campus? Email the Penn State Douglass Day team (douglass-day@psu.edu) with the location and time of your event and the number of approx. attendees. Also register with DouglassDay.org to ensure you receive orientation materials, newsletter updates about the national broadcast, and are listed as a partner location. On February 13th, you can stream the broadcast on YouTube into your library or classroom.

Abington

  • Location: Abington Campus Library
  • Contact: Brendan Johnson

Altoona

  • Location: Robert E. Eiche Library, Room 202
  • Contact: Jacob Gordon

Berks

  • Location: Thun Library
  • Contact: Melissa Millar

Brandywine

  • Location: John D. Vairo Building
  • Contact: Teresa Slobuski

Fayette

Greater Allegheny

  • Location: J. Clarence Kelly Library
  • Contact: Andrew Marshall

Harrisburg

  • Location: Madlyn L. Hanes Library, Classroom 106 (1st Floor)
  • Contact: Heidi Abbey Moyer

Hazleton

  • Location: Mary M. and Bertil E. Lofstrom Library
  • Contact: Lilly Fitt

Schuylkill

  • Location: Ciletti Memorial Library
  • Contact: Rosanne Chesakis

University Park

  • Location: Dewey Collaboration Commons, Ground Floor West Pattee
  • Contact: Racine Amos and Lauren Cooper
  • Register for the University Park event at bit.ly/dday-psu26

Want to join on a later time or day?

No problem! We have plenty of transcribing work to go around. The crowdsourcing project, the livestream video, and all of our materials will be available online starting on February 13th. (The crowdsourcing website will go live at 9 am EST). Everything will remain online until we’re done with all of the transcribing. It’s difficult to predict when that will be, so we will ask your group leader to check the site the night prior to your later meetings. If you aren’t sure, please email the Douglass Day team at douglassdayorg AT gmail DOT com.

Annual Douglass Day Bake Off

Photo of a birthday cake being cut. The birthday cake has a small image of Frederick Douglass on top.

This year we are delighted to continue the new tradition of our annual cake contest. Make your best cakes and desserts to celebrate Douglass. Post photos of your creations using the hashtag #DouglassDay on Bluesky and Instagram to enter our contest!

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