Charles H. Wright was born in Dothan, Alabama on September 20, 1918. He earned a B.S. degree in 1939 from Alabama State College and entered Meharry Medical College in the fall of 1939. Dr. Wright graduated from Meharry in 1943 and interned in pathotlogy at New York's Harlem Hospital, followed by another year in pathology at the Cleveland City Hospital. In 1946, Dr. Wright started a private practice in Detroit, but returned to Harlem Hospital in 1950 for a 3-year residency in OB_GYN. He returned to private practice as a specialist in Detroit in 1953.

Dr. Wright has served on the board of a number of institutions, including the the Museum of African American History, which he founded in 1965.

His publications include four books, two plays, two films and a number of papers.