Douglass Day at UC Santa Barbara
Events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. No experience needed. Just bring a laptop. Come for cake & refreshments!
About: Douglass Day is a global transcribe-a-thon held every year to celebrate the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass. Starting in 2026, Douglass Day will be newly and proudly housed at UCSB. Please join us for this collective action for Black history!
How can I participate?
All are welcome to both events!
UCSB
- Faculty: Bring your class – or send your students for extra credit.
- Students: All are welcome. Hint: ask your professors for extra credit!
- Staff: Drop in any time, and bring a friend!
Santa Barbara Community Members & Beyond
- Join us in-person at the Multicultural Center lounge.
- Parking info is available on the UCSB Library Directions & Parking
- Bring Douglass Day to your K-12 schools – see our new curriculum!
- Bring your friends, church, or groups!
Click to view full version as image or PDF
Quilting for Douglass Day & Black History (Makerspace Event)
- When: Tuesday, Feb 10, drop in from 4-6 PM
- Where: UCSB Library Makerspace (Library room 2509)
- Who: All are welcome!
- Sponsor: UCSB Library Makerspace
Join us in celebrating Douglass Day and Black History Month by contributing to a community quilt! Create a unique fabric square using collage and appliqué techniques. Share your story side-by-side with the campus community while we contemplate themes of citizenship, community, and home. How do we ensure “All Rights for All”?
At the end of the workshop, your decorated squares will be sewn into a collective quilt to be displayed at the Douglass Day transcription event on Friday, February 13th. All materials will be provided – no prior sewing or art experience is necessary. Come craft with us!
Main Event: Douglass Day Birthday Party & Transcribe-a-thon
- When: Friday, Feb 13, drop in from 11 AM – 2 PM
- Where: UCSB Multicultural Center (MCC) Lounge
- Who: All are welcome!
- Sponsors: Department of English, Office of Black Student Development, African diasporic Cultural Resource Center, Department of Black Studies, and the Multicultural Center
Every Valentine’s Day, we invite you to a birthday party for Frederick Douglass. We celebrate this date as a moment for creating history together!
On February 13, 2026, we invite you to join us for another powerful celebration of Douglass Day! This year, we will focus on transcribing materials from the Colored Conventions Project. This groundbreaking archive documents how nineteenth-century African Americans organized around critical issues such as voting rights, citizenship, education, labor, racial equality, and so much more.
These documents offer historical insight and a call to action in the face of today’s urgent political crises, from voter suppression to attacks on citizenship and education. Colored Conventions were spaces of collective care and resistance. By engaging these documents together, we hope to illuminate the legacy of Black organizing and contribute to the work still ahead.
Learn more: about the Colored Conventions
Contact
- Jim Casey, Dept of English, email: jccasey [at] ucsb [dot] edu
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. We celebrate on/around this date as a moment for creating Black history together.
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 PST). 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 local contact 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
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!
Follow us on social media
- Bluesky @douglassday.bsky.social
- Instagram @DouglassDayorg
- YouTube Douglass Day