“The ultimate goal is to change the way we think about art created by African-Americans,” Fleming said. “We want people to stop thinking of it as ‘African-American art’ and instead simply refer to it as ‘American art.’”

As part of her presentation, Fleming explained about the process that she and co-creator Jacqueline Days Serwer used to create the art gallery at the museum.

The gallery, titled “Visual Art and the American Experience” is meant to be an intimate space that educates, inspires and awakens, according to Fleming. During Thursday’s presentation at the courthouse, Fleming showed off some of the works of art contained in the museum via a PowerPoint presentation and spoke about the nuances and purpose of each piece.

“Another goal of the gallery is to present American history, culture and art history through the lens of the African- American artist,” she said.

The works of art she discussed included works that ranged from portraits to abstract sculptures. She also spoke about trying to get both well-known and even controversial artists included in the exhibit. Fleming then spoke about how budget cuts to arts education has cut off students from learning about the history of these artists.

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