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Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

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1997–1998, Howard Sims of Sims-Varner. 315 E. Warren Ave.
  • (Photograph by Balthazar Korab)
  • (Photograph by Balthazar Korab)

This huge museum of African American history expresses its purpose in form, motifs, and detail. The dome above a rotunda is based on African buildings, and the sculptural columns mimic a traditional African rope motif. The brass, bronze, mahogany, and marble materials are native to Africa. African masks, designed by Richard Bennett, mark the entrance and state the function.

Dr. Charles Wright (1918–2002), a Detroit physician and historian, founded the Museum of African American History in 1965. First housed in two dwellings, the museum was moved in 1987 to a larger building. One year after the current museum opened, it was rededicated and renamed for Wright. At its dedication the museum was the largest of its kind ever built. Its supporters anticipated it would serve as a national tourist destination, but attendance and revenue declined in 2004. Since then new core exhibits have been installed.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert
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Data

What's Nearby

Scarab Club
Horace H. Rackham Educational Memorial Building
Detroit Institute of Arts
College for Creative Studies (Center for Creative Studies)
Cathedral Church of St. Paul (St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Cathedral)

Citation

Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History", [Detroit, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-WN66.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Michigan

Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 88-89.

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