Detroit's African American History Museum turns 50

Museum educator Jonathan Jones does a historical re-enactment of a man named Mr. Peter who was traveling on the Underground Railroad for a tour group of students from Thomas A. Edison elementary school inside the Children's Discovery Room

Museum educator Jatu Gray leads a tour through the "And Still We Rise" exhibition.

Visitors to the museum look at a display about African traders in the "And Still We Rise" exhibition.

Visitors take a tour through a recreation of a slave ship while walking through the "And Still We Rise" exhibition.

Visitors walk through a re-creation of the hold of a slave ship.

Visitors walk past a display depicting a slave auction in the "And Still We Rise" exhibition.

The museum pulled in 261,000 visitors last year — double the number just three years ago. The Wright now stands as a major tourist draw, an educational powerhouse, and a demonstrable source of pride.

The museum celebrates its 50th anniversary throughout this year.

“To the local community, it’s the place where they see themselves and tells their story,” said President and CEO Juanita Moore, shown in 2008. “It shows what they can accomplish, and encourages them to move forward.”

A likeness of former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young at the "And Still We Rise" exhibit.

Khanya Ziegle, 12, of Detroit prepares to light the first candle of Kwanzaa "Umoja" (Unity), Friday Dec. 26, 2014, during Kwanzaa celebrations at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Lasers light the museum during the DElectricity Detroit Electric Art Festival in the cultural district of Detroit Oct. 5, 2012.

Paralee Day, left, hugs a sobbing Catherine Blackwell, both of Detroit, as Barack Obama takes the oath as president. Witnesses watched the inauguration on a big screen at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Jan. 20, 2009.

Detroit’s first museum devoted to the black experience, the International Afro-American Museum, opened in 1965. Housed in Dr. Charles H. Wright’s home office on West Grand Boulevard, it was just a few miles from the site of the dramatic $38.4 million museum that now bears the doctor’s name, but worlds away in ambition, depth and prestige.Housed in Dr. Charles H. Wright’s home office on West Grand Boulevard, it was just a few miles from the site of the dramatic $38.4 million museum that now bears the doctor’s name, but worlds away in ambition, depth and prestige.

The sign outside the original museum in the 1960s.

The mobile Charles Wright Museum of African American History, circa 1966-late 1970s.

Charles H. Wright in 1965. Wright, an obstetrician and gynecologist who died in 2002, was dismayed at how little black youngsters knew about their culture in the 1950s and '60s.

Dr. Charles H. Wright, founder of the Museum of African American History.

From left, the Rev. Bishop Phillip Patterson, Rosa Parks, Erma Henderson and Esther Gordy Edwards on May 7, 1987, at the dedication of the second Charles Wright Museum.

Dr. Charles Wright at the second home for the museum, which opened in 1987.

The 1997 dedication & ribbon-cutting of the current facility of the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.

The interior of the second Museum of African American History, which opened in 1987 at 301 Frederick Douglass. The building is now occupied by the College for Creative Studies.

Michael Jackson, center, Don Barden and others visit the Charles Wright Museum at its current location in 1998.

Boxer Thomas Hearns, left, and Michael Jackson visit the Charles Wright museum in Detroit in 1998.

“Black history is American history,” said federal Judge Damon J. Keith, one of the museum’s champions, and its savior when it nearly went bankrupt in 2004. “We’ve all been a part of that.” Judge Damon Keith, lis shown left, at the 2004 ribbon-cutting of the core exhibit, "And Still We Rise." The man at right is not identified.

This casting of the fossil skull, nicknamed "Lucy," was discovered in Ethiopia and is one of the oldest complete remains of an erect-walking hominin ever discovered. It was part of the History of Mankind DNA exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on Nov. 15, 2009.

Dance Theater of Harlem dancers David Tai Kim and Renee Bharath perform at the museum Sept. 9, 2011.

Visitors to the African World Festival, undated. The festival moved to the museum grounds in 2012.

Visitors to the African World Festival, undated. The festival moved to the museum grounds in 2012.

Visitors to the African World Festival, dance undated. The festival moved to the museum grounds in 2012.

Museum of African American History assistant Nubia Waterford holds a newspaper cover depicting M. William Potter tied to a stake on a theater stage in Livermore, Kentucky. Tickets were sold and customers paid extra to shoot Mr. Potter. July 9, 2004 photo.

The interior of a slave ship is represented at the Charles Wright museum.

Visitors to the core exhibit, "And Still We Rise: Our Journey Through African American History & Culture" look at the depiction of a slave ship.

Visitors to the core exhibit, undated.