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Frederick Douglass Day

Frederick Douglass Day


In February 2023, thousands of people will celebrate Douglass Day, an annual event held to celebrate the birthday of Frederick Douglass. Members of the public are invited to join this celebration by joining us at the University of Tennessee for a series of events to honor Douglass and to contribute to Black literary history!

Our plenary address by Dr. Nneka Dennie will be on Monday, February 13 at 3:30 PM in the Library Auditorium located on the first floor of Hodges Library.

The main event will be the Frederick Douglass Day Celebration and Transcribe-a-thon on Tuesday, February 14, 12PM–3PM in the Frieson Black Cultural Center. We will be logging on to DouglassDay.org to help transcribe records from famed newspaper editor and activist, Mary Ann Shadd Cary. It’s a way to celebrate Black History Month with a digital twist!

Sponsored by UT Departments of English, History, and Africana Studies; UT Humanities Center, UT Libraries, UT Special Collections, and the Division of Diversity and Engagement.