Home > About

About

About the Colored Conventions Project

The Colored Conventions Project (CCP) is a digital humanities project led by students, faculty, and librarians. To learn more about the the project or to view exhibits, curriculum, and other related-CCP projects, please visit ColoredConventions.org.

Project Principles

At the core of CCP, we endeavor to incorporate five principles into all facets of our work. Learn more at the general Colored Conventions Project site.

Read Principles

The term “Colored Convention” continues to expand as our knowledge about Black organizing over the nineteenth century grows. Colored Conventions share some of the following traits: 1) The convention should be organized and led by Black people, meaning that delegates and attendees are Black (although the convention may include a number of “honorary” non-Black delegates). The convention’s format tend to include the following features (although the print record may not entirely survive): parliamentary procedures and organization, a call, recognition of official delegates and elected officials, committees, and delegates, often identified by location (e.g., city, state, district, ward). A “Colored Convention” will cover issues related to Black communities at specific scales, including but not limited to: congressional district, state (note: we treat DC as a state), regional (includes multiple states and/or territories), or national level. We also recognize a growing variety of conventions concerned with Black freedoms and rights in Canada, the Caribbean, and Native/Indigenous communities. These conventions usually identified themselves as a “convention,” or the document under study describes the convention as a “convention.” For D.C. or smaller scale conventions, conventions might appear under names like “congress,” “mass meeting,” and others. In this case, the convention scale should be at the state level or greater. These conventions do not have to be led by a particular group, but if they are, they must be led by Black organizers (e.g.,  Colored Labor Unions, Equal Rights Leagues, and Teachers and Educator associations). Conventions organized under general political party and religious organizations are not included as conventions (e.g., a convention for the Republican party composed of Black Republicans, Methodist Conferences, etc.). Colored Conventions may be in dialogue with these institutions and structures, but maintain financial, political, and/or ideological independence. When describing a formal event, we capitalize the names as “Colored Conventions” and avoid use of the adjective in non-quoted or informal language. 

Subject to ongoing revision. Last update - Jan 21, 2025. 

Using Two Colored Conventions Project Websites

This Digital Records site, omeka.coloredconventions.org, features hundreds of primary sources from the conventions movement. Primary sources include minutes, proceedings, newspaper articles, speeches, letters, transcripts, and images. The digital collections are organized by year, type, and region. Many primary sources have been transcribed and are keyword searchable. Whenever possible, we provide images of the documents along with the transcriptions and relevant metadata.

Please note:

• The collection is still growing. We continue to obtain more documents and learn about more conventions. 
• If you know about a document or a convention that we do not offer, please let us know through our our Convention Records Submission Form. Learn more at our Submit Records page. 
• We provide transcripts when possible, but we have not yet finished transcribing the entire collection. 
• The documents in our collection come from multiple sources of varying quality. Please let us know if you have a better copy to share through our our Convention Records Submission Form.
• Want to learn more about the conventions and their contexts? Please visit the CCP Exhibits. 
• Some files are not provided because of licensing restrictions, but we do share any information about the sources. Please consult your local school, library, or institution.

This project is made possible in part through generous support from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).