Detroit museum is the largest of its kind in the U.S. dedicated to the history, modern-day experience of African Americans
DETROIT — On Feb. 8, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger continued to get to know his archdiocese, its history and its people by visiting the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History near Midtown Detroit.
The archbishop was accompanied during a morning tour of the museum by Vickie Figueroa, associate director for cultural ministries and coordinator of Black Catholic ministry in the Archdiocese of Detroit, and Jonathan Jones, manager of youth and family programs at the Wright Museum.
The groundbreaking museum, which opened in its current space in 1997 but traces its roots to the 1960s, is "the world's largest institution dedicated to the African American experience," according to its website.
The museum's namesake and 30 others founded the International Afro-American Museum on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit in 1965, but the museum quickly outgrew its space, and in 1997, a new, 125,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility opened.
Today, the museum chronicles a comprehensive history of African Americans, from the ancient civilizations in Africa to the stories of the millions of people who came to the American continent as slaves but built a culture and heritage that is intertwined with American culture. Its collections include more than 30,000 artifacts and archival materials, from African masks to modern civil rights documents telling stories of struggle, triumph and hope.
The Sunday morning visit left an impression on Archbishop Weisenburger, who particularly recounted the pains and horrors millions experienced as victims of the African slave trade — being abducted from their homes, stowed on away on ships to be enslaved on a continent on the far side of the world.
“The visit to the museum was a reminder of the pain of our history and how that pain, especially through racism, lingers in our world today,” Archbishop Weisenburger told Detroit Catholic.
The museum's exhibits tell the story of African culture, and how from the time of the Nubian and Egyptian empires, African history has shaped human history, including how the trans-Atlantic slave trade played a critical role in the colonization and development of the American continent.
The tour included a somber replica of the dungeons where African people were captured and interred, starved and broken as individuals before being taken as slaves upon seafaring vessels to the Americas.
“The most painful part of the tour, which was also the most moving part, was seeing what it would be like for someone in the belly of ship, packed in literally like sardines, body to body,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “I doubt I would have survived. Period. Even though it is a sobering and challenging visit, it is one I would recommend to everyone.”
Jones, manager of youth and family programs at the Charles H. Wright Museum, guided the tour. The museum, which often sees high interest during Black History Month, is a critical part of telling the stories of African Americans to the wider public, especially in Detroit, one of the largest minority-majority cities in the U.S., Jones said.
Notedly, the tour highlighted times when Christian churches spoke out against the sins of slavery and racism, but also moments when Christians played roles in supporting the systems of oppression that perpetuated slavery and racism.
“I believe there are two ways of operating in the world,” Jones told Detroit Catholic. “There’s God's perfected will, and there's God’s permissive will — what is allowed to happen, but is not necessarily His will. There is what He designs for us, but also what He allows to happen for us to learn.
“So, everything’s about learning, about growing, and about deepening relationships,” Jones continued. “So when I take people through exhibits or do presentations or anything of that nature, I come from a perspective of wanting people to have a deeper understanding so they can have a deeper relationship with what happened.”
As a curator of African American history in a city with a majority Black population, Jones said it's especially meaningful for the leader of the Catholic Church in Detroit to visit the Charles H. Wright Museum.
“It means everything for (the archbishop) to take time out of his day, the day we set aside as the Sabbath, to take the time to show us how these issues we are studying from the past are connected to today,” Jones said.
