Dr. Charles Smith: Black History Lessons is an exhibition drawn from Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection of work by Outsider Artists. The collection has not been on exhibit in its entirety since 2008.

The exhibition’s intent is to address current events and longstanding issues with racism in the United States by inviting visitors into a gallery space that re-imagines Dr. Charles Smith’s art environment. To do this the work is showcased alongside words, and images of his actual artist environment called the African American Heritage Museum and Black American Archive which he began in 1986 in Aurora, IL and later moved to Hammond, LA in 2002.

Works on display were gifted to Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in 2004 via the auspices of the Kohler Foundation in support of Dr. Charles Smith’s dream to use his art as a means to teach about the significant contributions that Black Americans have made to the formation of the Unites States of America.

Special thank you to Dr. Smith for his conversation, input and enthusiasm about the exhibition. Thank you as well to the Spaces Archives-Khohler Foundation and RoadsideAmerica.com for sending images of Dr. Charles Smith's African American Heritage Museum and Black American Archive, as well as granting us permission to use the images to create the mural of images in the gallery space.

This exhibition is curated by Nicole Maria Evans, Curator of Art at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art. Exhibitions presented by Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art are supported in part by the Montana Arts Council a state agency funded by the State of Montana, Humanities Montana, National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by museum members and the citizens of Cascade County, and generous support from Montana Federal Credit Union and D.A. Davidson.