On February 14, the Office of Inclusion and Diversity will host an event for Douglass Day, a program that marks the birth, life and work of Frederick Douglass.

Every Valentine’s Day, people worldwide gather to celebrate the event, with over 30,000 participants in 665 locations globally since 2017. This year, Bowdoin will join the annual program with the support of Professor of Cinema Studies Tricia Welsch.

“I [felt Bowdoin] should [hold this event] because it brings people together in a fun and interesting way for a good thing,” Welsch, who began participating in Douglass Day during the pandemic, said. “It’s nice to be in community with people, doing something that serves the common good.”

In the summer of 2016, Welsch visited Douglass’ grave in Rochester, N.Y. While there, she was touched to find it decorated with flowers, a reminder of the remarkable and persistent value of his life and work.

“I realized people had been at his grave.… Somebody’s thanking him and watching out that [his story is not] forgotten. I can be part of that. I want to be part of that,” Welsch said.

Douglass Day reflects this effort. While learning more about Douglass’ life, Welsch discovered he had visited Brunswick in 1872, where he unfortunately experienced discrimination. In turn, she sees Bowdoin’s Douglass Day event as an acknowledgment of Maine’s challenging history.

“When I read that he was mistreated in Brunswick, I thought, ‘Let’s give him a party right here.’ It pushed me to say, ‘That’s not okay. We can make it up to him,’” Welsch said.

Welsch noted the reasoning behind the celebration of Douglass on February 14.

“[Douglass] observed his birthday on February 14, [because] his mother called him her Little Valentine. That gives me a vision and a happy idea of love and warmth in his life, even in a tough period. Until he escaped his enslavers, he didn’t have any breaks from that,” Welsch said. “The idea that he had a loving home and that Valentine’s Day is a piece of it made me gravitate toward this event. There’s a sweetness to it that I love.”

The event will consist of a “transcribe-a-thon” in which attendees will spend time transcribing documents from the African American Perspectives Collection at the Library of Congress, helping make information regarding Black history more accessible.

“Transcribing these documents makes them permanently, publicly available and free to anybody who wants to look into them, not just scholars. Anybody who has a curiosity about the topic of Black history can learn more,” Welsch said.

This event presents an opportunity to bring history into the present, with Director of Institutional Inclusion and Diversity Programs Katy Stern expressing her enthusiasm about Douglass Day’s potential.

“I am excited that students, along with all folks in our community, will have the opportunity to learn about the important Black civil rights leadership of Frederick Douglass, while also having the opportunity to contribute to Black history by participating in the transcribe-a-thon with the African American Perspectives Collection at the Library of Congress,” Stern wrote in an email to the Orient.

The event allows Bowdoin students to involve themselves in a tangible and easily achievable effort.

“This is a party or an activity on campus that invites everybody, and that is a light lift. There is no real complication to doing this. Show up. I like things that are easy to participate in,” Welsch said.

To Welsch, the event is an example of a simple fact:

“Black history is American history. If we care about American history, we must care about all of our history,” Welsch said. “I’m proud of what the College has done and will continue to do to embrace all our history and its complex messiness.”

The event will be held in Ladd House from noon to 3 p.m. and is open to all.