Celebrating Black History Month At The Charles H. Wright Museum

Detroit  (CBS Detroit)  - The Charles H. Wright Museum in Detroit connects visitors of all backgrounds with the stories of resilience, ingenuity, and courage that define the African-American experience.

The museum offers engaging workshops developed for children from preschool to high school. The interactive workshop settings compliment the long-term and short-term exhibitions, and thereby encourage exploration and appreciation of the histories and cultures of African and the African Diaspora.

"We're excited about Black History Month," says Director of External Affairs Edward Foxworth III. "It is the time of year when people come to the museum to really catch up.  Whether you're an organization, individuals or non-profits, those individuals come here and learn so much more about black history."

"At the Charles Wright, we put together exhibitions, sometimes history, sometimes art," explains Curator of Collections and Exhibition Patrina Chatman. "But always about the African and African American culture."

"Here at the museum is the gathering and organizing and presenting of history, art and culture," says Chatman. "We've got all kinds of programs, more specifically we have an exhibition that everybody's coming to see and it's called Queen by CCH Pounder, and their from her collection."

Featuring artwork by Africans, African-Americans, and artists from the Diaspora, the pieces on display in Queen are drawn from the personal collection of award-winning actress CCH Pounder, and span a range of styles and mediums.

"CCH Pounder is an Emmy Award winning actress who collects art and exhibits it. But more than just collecting the art, she likes to share the art that she has collected with the community."

"Black History Month means connection for the museum," explains Museum Educator Jonathan Jones. "It is the time when a lot of people feel that they want to learn a little bit more about the history that they don't talk about every day. So what we end up doing is making sure that that part of the story gets to be told to everyone that comes to visit with us."

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