Detroit -- Sunlight glints off the signature round dome of the Charles H. Museum of African American History in Detroit's Midtown on a recent weekday, a reminder that even in changing weather and political climates, it aims to be a beacon.
Now named after its founder, the Detroit obstetrician who was also an activist dedicated to educating others about African American history, art and culture, the museum stands in an uncertain time.
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are being targeted by President Donald Trump's administration. A bill allowing a proposed millage that would've created a stable revenue stream for the museum was never signed into law. And some museum displays across the country are being scrutinized for not promoting "American exceptionalism" enough.
But Wright officials, including the museum's longtime chief executive officer, said the divisive climate is why its mission is more critical than ever as the institution this year marks its 60th anniversary milestone. The 125,000-square-foot facility on Warren Avenue in the heart of Midtown's Cultural Center is celebrating with a gala on Saturday.
"In a year when many cultural institutions are under scrutiny, our mission at The Wright feels more critical than ever: to preserve stories that too often are erased; to offer context when conversations are reduced to rhetoric, and to create a safe place where difficult truths can be examined with rigor and empathy," museum CEO Neil Barclay wrote in an emailed statement.
The museum's 60 years of existence are a testament to its enduring mission, no matter what the political climate may be, said Jennifer Evans, the museum's senior director of exhibitions and collections. The museum has always stuck to its directive to teach African American history regardless of whether it is popular, she said.
"Our mission is to always be presenting different content areas of African American history that we deem are important and that we think visitors could learn from. It's really our mission to provide the educational information and be a resource if people want it, and they know where to find us when they want to learn it, and they know where we are when they need that support," Evans said.
In August, the Trump administration ordered an "internal review" of eight Smithsonian museums to align the organization with the president's cultural directives to "celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions," according to a letter sent to the Smithsonian Institution.
In a social media post later that month, Trump slammed the Smithsonian for focusing on "how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been."
But Wright officials are undaunted, saying again they will affirm African American "culture, memory and learning even in times when many would rather see us silenced or erased," Barclay said. "We do this because the alternative would be to allow critical parts of our identity and history to vanish."
Museum professionals have had to grapple with the reality that the institutions have often excluded the stories and contributions of people of color, and by doing so, have not always reflected an accurate accounting of history, said Lisa Craig Brisson, the executive director of the Michigan Museums Association. But people shouldn't be afraid to talk about uncomfortable history, she said.
"We can just talk about these things that really happen and talk about the context of why they happen, and talk about the consequences and the harm that was caused. But that doesn't mean you have to feel bad about it," Brisson said. "It just means you should understand it."
The current efforts by the federal government to question the work of museums to highlight parts of history that some people may find uncomfortable seem like the value of curiosity itself is being called into question, she said.
"To me, museums are amazing and incredible organizations that do so many things for our culture and our society," Brisson said. "They steward stories. They steward things. They take care of things for us. ... They save our history. They save our stories, and museums take that role very seriously."
Modest beginnings
The museum's current address on East Warren Avenue, which The Wright moved into in 1997, is its third location, a reminder of how far it has come since its modest beginning in March 1965.
Charles H. Wright, an obstetrician and gynecologist, originally named the museum the International Afro-American Museum, which he started after he returned from attending the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
A physician who fought in his career for better representation in the medical field for African Americans, Wright went to civil rights marches in Alabama and Louisiana to provide care to activists brutalized by racist mobs and police officers. A visit to West Africa helped to inspire him to fight for the Detroit Institute of Arts to feature African art.
Jamon Jordan, a historian for the city of Detroit, said Wright was more than a doctor and promoter of African American history.
He was "also a fighter; he's an activist," Jordan said.
"He's fighting on all these fronts," said Jordan, who added that all Wright's life experiences influenced the museum's mission.
The doctor started the museum out of his home on West Warren Avenue and West Grand Boulevard, the historian said. One of the first mentions of Wright's International Afro-American Museum in The Detroit News is from Aug. 24, 1967. It describes a blue and white mobile museum that was part of the Michigan State Fair that summer with maps, art objects, transparencies and more to give the African American community more pride in its past and foster "a new respect" for Black heritage among Whites, according to the story.
"Few Americans -- White or Negro -- realize that the great civilizations of Africa predated those of Europe," Wright told the paper.
"It's an item that has long been overlooked in history books, though we're starting to make some inroads in the schools now," Wright said.
An undated black-and-white-photo on The Wright's website shows patrons outside the mobile museum's trailer with its painted sign, a small set of makeshift metal stairs leading to the entrance. The trailer bears the address 1549 Grand Blvd., the museum's first location.
Wright saw it as equally important for African Americans to build institutions to tell their own history while pushing established, mainstream museums and schools to do a better job at teaching it, Jordan said. Some people researching and teaching about Black history now owe their knowledge to Wright's museum, he said, adding that the museum is part of the kind of movement that arises from efforts to effect change out of oppression and suffering.
"People were suffering; people were oppressed,and organizations and movements were created that rose to the occasion of addressing and changing these sad realities,right? Charles H. Wright did that.He rose to the occasion in the 1960s,"Jordan said.
Wright died in 2002 at the age of 83.
"He always said this is not my museum.This is our museum," then Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong said during the March 2002 funeral.
35,000 artifacts
In 1967, Wright said the museum's annual budget was $15,000, which he hoped to grow to build a permanent site for the museum's growing collection.
Today, the museum -- nicknamed The Wright -- houses more than 35,000 artifacts and archival materials and offers more than 300 public programs and events annually.
Its powerful core exhibit, "And Still We Rise," spans 22,000 square feet and 20 galleries, delving deeply into the Middle Passage, the forced journey of roughly 12 million Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, even depicting what it would've been like to travel on a slave ship across the Atlantic Ocean. It spans until the Civil Rights movement and beyond, and is considered one of the single largest exhibits surveying the history of African Americans.
"We're dedicated to -- and what Dr. Wright wanted us to do -- a mission to teach and talk about African American history,whether it's popular or not,"Evans said.
Challenges
But the museum hasn't been without its challenges, especially financial ones.
A state bill that could have secured a more stable funding stream for the Wright museum by creating an authority to ask voters to approve a maximum 10-year, 0.2 mill property tax passed in late 2024 before Republicans took control of the House in January. But it never made it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for signing. A battle is being waged in state court over whether the now Republican-led House should be forced to advance the bill to Whitmer.
As that fight plays out, the city of Detroit gave the museum a $1 million increase in its 2025-26 fiscal year, which started July 1, raising funding for its operations from $2.6 million to $3.6 million.
"Given reductions in federal funding across the nation to arts and culture institutions with African American museums being specifically targeted,we are incredibly grateful that city council has decided to put an emphasis on supporting The Wright which is one of nation's oldest and largest encyclopedic museums of its kind,"Barclay told The News in a June statement.
The city also planned to spend another $4.1 million to continue repair and upgrade of nearly three-decade-old museum which is owned by city of Detroit. The money will go toward long-deferred infrastructure needs including replacing museum's HVAC system and upgrading technological infrastructure to enhance operational efficiency,museum officials said.
Barclay said in tumultuous moments in American history,"the past we preserve can serve as a lens to the present."
"We often talk about opening minds and changing lives -- now those words carry weight. In moments of backsliding,a museum like The Wright cannot waver. In fact,our fundamental mission is more essential and its presence within our community is even more essential," he said.