Penn State Penn State: College of the Liberal Arts

Center forBlack Digital Research, #DigBlk

Black Women's Organizing Archive

The Black Women’s Organizing Archive brings together the scattered archives and buried histories of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Black women organizers, intellectuals, and activists.

Douglass Day

Douglass Day is an annual event that celebrates the chosen birthday of Frederick Douglass every February with a transcribe-a-thon to share and preserve Black records.

Colored Conventions Project

The Colored Conventions Project (CCP) brings seven decades of nineteenth-century Black organizing to digital life, gathering the movement’s scattered records in one place, and making them freely accessible for the very first time.

Welcome to the Center for Black Digital Research!

The Center for Black Digital Research/#DigBlk is a public-facing research center committed to bringing the histories of early Black organizing to digital life through innovative scholarship and collaborative partnerships. The Center is home to the award-winning Colored Conventions Project, Douglass Day, and the Black Women’s Organizing Archive. Learn more at our Research page or by exploring the exhibits, historical records, and videos available through our project sites!

STARTING SEPT. 5

Write-on-Sites,
Daily 7–9 a.m. ET

A dedicated virtual writing space for BIPOC graduate students, postdocs, and faculty to come together in community and advance their writing.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary 200th Anniversary

OCTOBER 2023

Mary Ann Shadd Cary at 200

We are pleased to share events and resources that commemorate Mary Ann Shad Cary’s life and legacy.

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

Douglass Day

Global Transcribe-a-thon

Join us to celebrate Frederick Douglass’s chosen birthday and transcribe the correspondence of Frederick Douglass from the Library of Congress.

Digitize Black Women's Records 2024 - Save the Date

MARCH 2024

Digitize Black Women’s Records Day

Coordinated by the Black Women’s Organize Archive (BWOA). More information coming this fall.

Meet the #DigBlk Team

We are faculty, graduate and undergraduates, postdoc, librarians, archivists, and community partners working together across ranks, disciplines, and institutions to bring the histories of early Black organizing to digital life through innovative scholarship and collaborative partnerships.