Join the SC Center for the Book's Virtual 2025 Douglass Day Celebration. We will livestream the Library of Congress' 2025 Douglass Day Celebration and work on transcribing documents. Come to a virtual information session on February 11th, 12th, or 13th to learn more about By The People and transcriptions.

We look forward to seeing you at the Center for the Book's first annual

Douglass Day Celebration!

Join us for Douglass Day!

A day of love & collective action for Black history!

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 this date as a moment for creating Black history together.

FAQ

What is Douglass Day?

Douglass Day is an annual program that marks the birth of Frederick Douglass. Each year, we gather thousands of people to help create new & freely available resources for learning about Black history. We frequently focus on important Black women’s archives, such as Anna Julia Cooper (2020), Mary Church Terrell (2021), Mary Ann Shadd Cary (2023) and plenty more to come in future years. Learn more about the history of Douglass Day.

See our Douglass Day pages for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

What is a transcribe-a-thon?

Transcribe-a-thons are events in which people gather together to work side-by-side on a crowdsourcing transcription project. We feature a different project each year.

Will this year’s events be held in person or virtually?

Douglass Day 2025 will take many forms — in-person, online, or hybrid! We are delighted to present Douglass Day featuring new offerings posted by the Library of Congress and their By The People crowdsourcing platform. 

For more information, please get in touch with McCabe Rentz, SC Center for the Book Coordinator, at 803-734-4816 or mrentz@statelibrary.sc.gov 

Location & Parking: The event will be held at the South Carolina State Library, 1500 Senate Street, Columbia, SC 29201. On-street metered parking is available.

Enter between the two lions.

About Douglass Day: Douglass Day

Accessibility: FM Auditory Assistance, large print materials, and other accessibility accommodations are available upon request. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate, please contact the program organizer at least two weeks in advance.