John J. Wright

Educational & Cultural Center Museum

Home of the 23rd Regiment U. S. Colored Infantry
7565 Courthouse Rd * Spotsylvania, VA  22551-2706

(540) 582-7583, ext 5545 * (540) 582-3945 (fax)

 
 
The 23rd Regiment, U. S. Colored Infantry hosted a forum, "From Civil War to Civil Rights."  Present to give the pre-Civil War perspective was special guest, Auldie Mathews.
Click HERE to learn more.

Click HERE for information about the 23rd Infantry Regiment USCT

2013 brings new changes to the museum.  Click HERE for information.
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Save This Date:  Thursday, Sept 5th, 4-7 p.m.
We will celebrate our 3rd Anniversary with the opening of a new exhibit - "Pass That Book:  School Integration in 1960s Spotsylvania."  Doors open at 4pm; program from 5-5:45 pm; reception from 4-7 p.m.  This event is free and open to the public.  
 
Why not support the 3rd anniversary by advertising with us?  We will print a special souvenir booklet and it would be great to see your name and/or business included.   Click HERE for more information.
Welcome to this unique Rappahannock region museum 

   

Museum Hours

Thursday - Saturday, 10am to 3pm

Groups by appointment (for directions, click HERE)
 

SAFETY FIRST: Our museum is located INSIDE of the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center.   Please note that because we are inside of a school, we respect and observe all safety precautions to ensure your visit is a wonderful one.  If your visit is during the school's open hours, enter the building, proceed to the Main Office, sign the Visitors Log, and wait for a museum associate to come and escort you to the museum.  We thank you.

 
Our museum is named after the man who, in 1905, organized a community of black baptist churches to focus on developing high school education.  As such, our permanent exhibit tells the history of African American education in Spotsylvania, while our rotating exhibits explore subjects that impact all county residents.  A comparative historical approach allows us to show events through time - making them relevant to every visitor who comes through our doors. 

 

     Come and see for yourself . . .

The Muse News, our bi-monthly newsletter, is now ready. Click HERE for your copy.
Now Showing
All Blood is Red (see below for images) examines integration in the context of war and the changing face of America.    Two important documents in American history - the Emancipation Proclamation and Executive Order #9981 that integrated the armed services - did much to change society.  In the past few years our country has seen all barriers to entry and advancement in the military disappear - proving once again that the U. S. military incubates ideas that ultimately improve society and bring us all closer to ". . . one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."  More than 70 newly acquired artifacts and photographs are on display in the special way that our museum juxtaposes the old with the new.  Free and open to the public.   
 
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IF it is true that All Blood is Red, and men and women of all creeds fight, bleed, and die side by side for their country, then what difference does their creed make OFF the battlefield?
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Sgt. Benjamin Brown of Spotsylvania County earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, presented by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890.  A career soldier, Sgt. Brown enlisted seven times; the third time he was seriously wounded in the infamous Arizona WHAM Robbery in 1889.
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Here we feature some of the prints and photographs included in the exhibit.  From a 1946 drawing by artist Elizabeth Catlett that tells the story of a 1945 Virginia Supreme Court ruling about where blacks could sit on a bus, to a 1990 print by the same artist showing her conception of "Three Women in America."