As the founder of the Ruby & Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum in Stratford, Jeffrey Fletcher says observing Black History Month is a year-round occurrence for him personally.

The museum's collection contains items Fletcher inherited from his mother who grew up in the segregated south.

Many artifacts are on display inside the museum, which takes visitors on a path back in time.

Exhibits begin by introducing visitors to Africa during the slave trades and continue through plantation life, the Civil Rights movement, and modern day.

Fletcher says his major motivation for opening the museum is to educate others about Black history and to give people a proper understanding of the information he was not taught during his formal education as a child growing up in Connecticut.

Fletcher, a former New Haven police officer for 22 years, also spends time regularly educating law enforcement officials through sensitivity training.