How Chapel Hill spent Valentine’s Day honoring Frederick Douglass

Black History Month came alive for these Chapel Hill residents, who transcribed Frederick Douglass’s historical documents on his “birthday.”

For millions of people, Valentine’s Day is often associated with romance—chocolates, candlelit dinners, and bouquets of roses. But at the Chapel Hill Public Library, the community is celebrating a different kind of love: a love for history. 

In honor of Black History Month and Frederick Douglass Day, local attendees are giving their flowers to Black history by helping preserve historical documents through the national Frederick Douglass Transcribe-a-thon.

Molly Luby, the second annual event’s co-organizer and community history coordinator at the library, said the transcribe-a-thon is about more than just digitizing records—it’s a celebration.

“This is a celebration of Frederick Douglass’ birthday,” Luby said, pointing to the triple-layered birthday cake made by Tonya Cookies, a local Black-owned bakery, at the back of the room. “He didn’t know the exact date he was born, so he picked February 14 as his birthday, since it is a day of love. And so we are celebrating his birthday.”

Who was Frederick Douglass?

Frederick Douglass was an escaped enslaved person who became a powerful abolitionist, writer, and speaker. Known for his eloquent advocacy for freedom and equality, Douglass played a key role in the abolitionist movement and fought for civil rights throughout his life. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, remains one of the most influential firsthand accounts of slavery.

Beyond his writing, Douglass held key government roles and continued to push for racial justice and women’s rights, making him a pivotal figure in American history whose legacy still resonates today.

Transcribing history

At the event, participants transcribed books, documents, and pamphlets from the African American Perspectives Collection at the Library of Congress, dating from the 1700s to the early 1960s—including Douglass’s autobiography.

For Chapel Hill resident Betty Brown, the experience was a personal one. As she transcribed pages from Douglass’ autobiography, she reflected on how little she had been taught about his legacy in school.

“I think as a child, I may have heard his name and knew that he was part of Black history, but really don’t know much about Frederick Douglass, other than he was a former slave and he had done some writing,” Brown said. “As I was transcribing, I’m thinking to myself, ‘this was a slave.’ But it feels like I’m transcribing something from an intellectual.” 

Brown said learning more about Douglass and his writings made her realize how much history had been left out of her education.

The gaps in education

Brown’s experience is not unique. For decades, Black history—including figures like Douglass—has been overlooked or minimized in public school curriculums. In recent years, political efforts have further restricted how Black history is taught in schools.

In January, President Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to cut funding for K-12 schools that teach what the Trump administration describes as “radical indoctrination” related to race, gender identity, and American history. 

The administration claims some schools impose “anti-American ideologies” when they teach aspects of American history that include slavery and gender discrimination. The executive order threatens to defund schools that are seen as promoting so-called “discriminatory equity ideology”—in other words, schools that factually teach parts of American history that could compel racial guilt, or that suggest systemic racism is a tool of oppression. 

For Brown, transcribing Douglass’ autobiography was a reminder of how much history she missed out on.

“I didn’t know these things,” she said, reflecting on why Douglass chose Valentine’s Day as his birthday. “I’m a 70-year-old African American living in America who doesn’t know these basic things.”

Sally Greene, Orange County’s vice chair and county commissioner at-large in the Board of County Commissioners, who also transcribed at the event, said she didn’t learn about Douglass growing up, either.

“I certainly didn’t learn about Frederick Douglass in high school or probably even in college,” Greene said. “But I’ve done a lot of self education.”

Honoring Black history, past and present

The Chapel Hill Public Library’s transcribe-a-thon was held in partnership with the Marian Cheek Jackson Center, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring, renewing, and building community in the historically Black neighborhoods of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

Anna Spencer, co-director of the Jackson Center, said the event aligns with the center’s dedication to honoring, renewing, and building community in the historically Black communities around Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

“We’ve been wanting to work with the library for quite some time, just because we’re both doing a lot of history work,” Spencer said.

The Jackson Center is known for its oral history transcribe-a-thons, where volunteers help document firsthand accounts from Black residents in the community. Spencer hopes the Frederick Douglass Day transcribe-a-thon will inspire future projects.

“We focus a lot on local Black history,” Spencer said. “And I think the opportunity to always try to connect things to national history is a great way to not only further the reach of the local history that we talk about and share with both local schools and community members more broadly—it’s that connection that local history and big history a lot of people learn about in schools and in textbooks are a lot closer than people may think.” 

Danita Mason-Hogans, a local historian who helped set tables for the transcribe-a-thon, said Frederick Douglass was way ahead of his time.

As the founder and chair of Bridging the Gap with DMH, a local nonprofit that educates descendants of the enslaved in Chapel Hill about their ancestors, Mason-Hogans said events like these really unpack what life was like for enslaved people and help people understand what the modern-day consequences are.

“And I’m so grateful that people have decided to come together as a community, put their time in, and really kind of did dive deep into the archives,” she said.