Because of them…

We Are.

The ancestors whose words, witness, and work guide mine.

Malcolm X

Audre Lorde

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fannie Lou Hamer

James Baldwin

Barbara Jordan

Elijah and Mary McCoy

Pauli Murray

Maya Angelou

Paul Robeson

Ida B. Wells

Nina Simone

Langston Hughes

Harriet Tubman

Howard Thurman

Malcolm X Audre Lorde Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Fannie Lou Hamer James Baldwin Barbara Jordan Elijah and Mary McCoy Pauli Murray Maya Angelou Paul Robeson Ida B. Wells Nina Simone Langston Hughes Harriet Tubman Howard Thurman

Historian.
Educator.
Innovator.

I am LaNesha McCoy. My academic and professional life is centered on a simple conviction: Black history is American history, and it enriches the lives of all.

A woman with dark hair, glasses, and makeup, smiling, wearing a black blazer over a pink top, with a silver chain necklace and bracelet, against a neutral background.

Museums and libraries give life.

I am a library and museum practitioner with over twenty years of experience leading museums, libraries, and educational initiatives with forward-facing vision. As a public historian, I study late-19th- and 20th-century African American history with an interdisciplinary specialization in educational history.

Work, words, and witness.

Woman speaking into a microphone at a panel discussion, identified as LaNESHA DeBARDELABEN, President & CEO of the Northwest African American Museum, during an American History TV program on C-SPAN2.

Latest Media

McCoy (DeBardelaben) Discusses Nat Turner on C-SPAN

Opening reflections on the life of Nat Turner in conversation with his great-great-great-grandson, Bruce Turner.

Watch on C-SPAN →

Close-up of a gold and black fountain pen with a pink flower in the background on a white surface.

Latest Writing

60 Years of Progress, and an Unfinished Journey Toward Justice

Reflections in the Seattle Times on the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Read in Seattle Times →

Let’s connect.

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