Previously to the transcribe-a-thon, I had no idea what the colored convention movement was or what it had entailed. I also have never worked with any digitized archival documents let alone transcribe them. All of this was a brand-new experience for me as well as the information regarding the transcriptions. I think that the colored convention movement is incredible and what they are doing is very important. It felt rewarding to be a part of a movement like this and know that even just a small contribution can be extremely helpful. Transcribing documents is crucial to preserving the documents historical values and its impact on the development of African American political thought and organization. The transcription gives historical context for the movement’s issues it addresses like education, labor, and legal justice. It also fosters community engagement by allowing individuals to connect with the history and current civil rights struggles.
Some challenges that I faced during the transcription were initially navigating the website and trying to follow all of the instructions. I was quite confused about the process on how to find and report names in the documents. Some of the documents were also difficult to read and understand what was written. I was eventually able to find the correct way to identify names after playing around with the Zooniverse website. If there was a document that was illegible, I would just move onto a different one that I could read and transcribe that one.
One of the documents that I transcribed (not pictured) mentioned the city of Rochester NY which is quite close to Geneseo and where I grew up. It was interesting to see that the colored conventions movement operated so close to myself. I found the process to be slightly calming, copying words down exactly how they’re written and reading along without the stress of an assignment was oddly soothing.
When engaging with the archival documents I learned a lot about the colored conventions movement and the documents. It covers issues like labor rights, voting laws, education, health and many more. It laid the groundwork for later African American institutions. Reading the documents as I transcribed them made me become more interested in the issues that were addressed and the movement itself. I also never heard of Frederick Douglass day so I learned a lot about him and how he impacted the colored conventions movement.