Field Experience
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
For my field experience, I chose to attend the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, located in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Charles Wright was an obstetrician and gynecologist that believed in creating and developing an institution to preserve Black history. He envisioned this after visiting and seeing a memorial to Danish World War II heroes in Denmark. This led him to believe that African Americans needed a similar resource center, to reveal and preserve, while educating the public on the history and culture. I attended on a Sunday, while not packed at all, and was able to take enough time to view some of the greatest African American history and artifacts I had ever seen before.
One of the more impressive and wonderful artifacts was the Pharaoh’s tomb. The ruler Tutankhamun was a ruler who faced many political and social conflict between the pantheon of Egyptian gods. The artifacts are elegantly displayed on pedestals of simulated Egyptian granite. Available in America for the first time to a whole generation, this classic exhibition vividly brings to life the enigmatic opulent age of 18th Dynasty Egypt.
Within the museum you’re exposed to over 30,000 artifacts and several exhibitions that were primarily set out for individual pieces of African American history. It made me feel like I was taking a closer encounter with history and the importance of the African American culture and life. Every exhibition had its own feel to it, and its own relevance, with each display and individual storyline, made it all the more very special. I think with every exhibition, the intention was to make people feel like they were truly once a part of that time and age. Although, it’s difficult to imagine any more of what lies in the roots of African American history and life, I