Douglass Day is an annual program that marks the birth of Frederick Douglass and strives to create new and freely available resources for learning about Black history during a transcribe-a-thon. This year, we will transcribe documents from Princeton University Library’s Special Collections, related to legal and economic conditions of newly emancipated African Americans in Louisiana just after the Civil War. We will also explore the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence by starting with messy text generated by a handwritten text recognition (HTR) platform.
 
Hosted by Princeton University Library, the event begins with an introduction to the collection by Jennifer Garcon (Librarian for Modern and Contemporary Special Collections) and Steven Knowlton (Librarian for History and African American Studies), as well as an introduction to the HTR process by Christine Roughan (Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Digital Humanities and Manuscript, Rare Book, and Archive Studies). 

Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided. Stop by anytime between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm. A limited number of laptops will be available for use during the event.

Douglass Day is presented by Library of Congress, Center for Black Digital Research, and Douglassday.org