The following object story was presented as part of the American Craft Council's national "Present Tense" conference that took place in Philadelphia in October 2019. Through eight main stage moments and four object stories featuring 42 speakers, the "Present Tense" main stage explored craft’s relevance as a powerful catalyst for navigating and making meaning in an increasingly complex present.

Vashti DuBois is the founder and executive director of The Colored Girls Museum (TCGM). Launched in 2015, TCGM is the first institution of its kind, honoring "the stories, experiences, and history of Colored Girls of the African diaspora and offering visitors a multi-disciplinary experience of memoir, in all its variety, in a residential space. This museum initiates the “ordinary” object—submitted by the colored girl herself, as representative of an aspect of her story and personal history which she finds meaningful; her object embodies her experience and expression of being a Colored Girl. TCGM has been engineered to pop up in other cities and neighborhoods around the country—transforming ordinary spaces into Colored Girls Museum outposts, which collect, archive, and share the stories of indigenous colored girls. This start-up Museum enterprise has been written about in Smithsonian, Essence, Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Metro, and others.

Vashti DuBois has held leadership positions at a number of organizations over her 30-year career in non-profit and arts administration, working primarily on issues impacting girls and women of color including Free Library of Philadelphia, Tree House Books, the Historic Church of the Advocate, Children's Art Carnival in New York City, Haymarket People's Fund in Boston, Congreso Girls Center, and The Leeway Foundation. DuBois is a graduate of Wesleyan University, and a NAMAC Fellow. She is currently working on a book about the making of TCGM.

thecoloredgirlsmuseum.com | @thecoloredgirlsmuseum

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