The Colored Conventions Project

Enhancement of a website to document over 120 conventions organized by African-American communities from the 1830s-1880s, including development of a reference database and fifteen interpretive exhibits.The Colored Conventions Project (CCP) is a digital collection and hybrid site for research and teaching that brings unprecedented public attention to the thousands of African Americans who made up the 19th-century Colored Conventions Movement. ColoredConventions.org collects, for the first time, rare and scattered minutes from more than 100 conventions. A DH Start-Up II grant will enable our interdisciplinary team of faculty, graduate and undergraduate researchers, library professionals, church and national teaching partners to collaborate to 1) create 15 new exhibits showcasing original research and visualizations 2) amass a database of 4,000+ conventions attendees for reference and datasets 3) expand outreach for our crowdsourcing Transcribe Minutes and 4) introduce Translate Minutes with our first international partner. Ultimately CCP will model a more inclusive digital history as we recover a movement for racial, economic and educational justice that resonates in our own time.