Children attend a class in the Wright Museum's Ford Freedom Rotunda.

Children attend a class in the Wright Museum’s Ford Freedom Rotunda.

City of Detroit-owned Wright Museum, the nation’s largest institution dedicated to African-American history, is desperately in need of support.

Like Detroit, the museum’s future is questionable in the wake of the city’s bankruptcy. The museum’s 30,000-piece collection of artifacts and archives, including documents associated with the Underground Railroad, the letters of Malcolm X and Rosa Parks and prototypes of inventions by Black scientists, such as the stoplight and gas mask, along with its 125,000 square foot building may be sold to help reduce the city’s $18 million debt.

There have been many calls within Detroit’s black community to help support this institution, with impressive results. And there are over 80 corporate and community partners like Ford, General Motors, Bank of America, Chase, Fifth Third Bank, and PWC that support their many educational and public programs. But the museum needs more long-term support. Isn’t this the ideal time for forward thinking individuals and corporations—both inside and outside Detroit—to step up to help save what is arguably the largest institution of its kind in the world?

Do the Wright thing. To learn how you can help, visit the Wright Museum donation page.