The Colored Girls Museum is a memoir museum, which honors the stories, experiences, and history of ordinary Colored Girls. 

“I was curious about what it would be like to create an environment that focused on this population of women and girls who’ve been overlooked for so long, but who continue to do so much for so many,” says Vashti Dubois who founded the colored girls museum in 2015. 

“We live in a world that consistently encourages us to put people on a pedestal. The Colored Girls Museum celebrates the ordinary colored girl through the submission of art and artifact,” she said.

Porcelain vessels represent the four African-American girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama church bombing.

“When we don’t see each other, it’s really, really easy to not have any regard for a life. And so here we are really, really hoping to bring your attention to ordinary. Ordinary black girlhood. Nope, they’re not, they’re not Harriet. They’re not Michelle Obama. They’re not Beyonce. Ordinary black women and girls. And how the ordinary is really significant.”

And although the rooms are centered around black women and girls Dubois says the museum is for everyone. 

 “I hope Women and girls of the African diaspora walk away from this experience, feeling seen, feeling loved, feeling invited. And I hope everybody, anybody, whether you’re a woman or girl of the African diaspora or not— I hope that you leave this space feeling like how important it is for all of our ordinary stories to be told.”

The Colored Girls Museum is headquartered in the historic neighborhood of Germantown in Philadelphia. For more information, visit The Colored Girls Museum.