The Colored Girls Museum
The Colored Girls Museum is a hidden gem in Germantown -- a memoir museum with a mission of honoring the stories, experiences and history of women from the African diaspora.
"It's really important to celebrate the ordinary colored girl who has done so much for so many for so long with very little recognition," says Vashti Dubois, who founded the museum in 2015.
Her current exhibition is titled Urgent Care, with works by nearly 30 artists.
"We're really looking at the state of urgency as it relates to the full well-being of colored girls in this moment," Dubois says.
The portrait series, "First Time I Ever Saw Your Face," examines how modern-day women of color are perceived.
"People look at the colored girl but quite often don't see her," explains Dubois.
"Because a lot of times, we just put on a mask and we put on layers," says Keisha Whatley, the artist who exposes those layers in a portrait titled Queen. "There's a concrete neck and there's a heart cracked through it."
The Washer Woman Room showcases objects from women who took on domestic work post-slavery.
"About 90% of the things in this room belong to our families," says museum curator Monna Morton.
Porcelain vessels represent the four African-American girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama church bombing.
"Really thinking about the vessels as a container," says Dubois, "for culture, for history, for time."
Dubois hopes the museum will hold a special place in the hearts of those who visit.
"Standing in the colored girls museum means to me that my experience is valuable," says the artist, Keisha Whatley.
"For me, it just represents, art and struggle," says curator Denys Davis.
And Dubois hopes that everyone knows this: "Colored Girls Museum is not just for colored girls; it's for anybody who's ready for conscious revolution."
Urgent Care is currently on display thru June at The Colored Girls Museum in Germantown. Tours are by appointment-only.
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