About LaNesha
To thine own self be true.
A motto that has guided LaNesha through the ups and downs of life — embracing her strengths to build success and dedicating her work to transforming, strengthening, and unifying society through museums, libraries, and educational equity.
Career chapters
Museum & Nonprofit Executive
Public Historian
Educator
Minister & Servant Leader
Museum & Nonprofit Executive
For over twenty years, LaNesha has helped lead the growth of Black museums and history initiatives. She is Executive Director of BlackPast.org, the world’s largest online encyclopedia on Black history, founded by historian Dr Quintard Taylor. Before that, she served as the award-winning President & CEO of the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle, where she led innovative, transformational growth. From 2017 to 2023, she established the museum’s annual Malcolm X Day, Juneteenth Week, Freedom Weekend, NAAM-Smithsonian partnership, and revitalised its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. She founded the African American Cultural Ensemble (ACE) — the nation’s first permanent, ongoing museum choir — as well as the Elders Circle, the James Baldwin Circle, the Descendants Series, and Knowledge is Power, a cultural literacy program that freely distributed 25,000 new African American children’s books.
Public Historian
LaNesha was Senior Vice President of Education & Exhibitions at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. She is the Past National President of the Board of Directors of the Association of African American Museums and previously served on the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Her public history career began at the National Museum of Kenya, and she has studied museums and libraries in Ghana, South Africa, England, Germany, and Israel.
Educator
Before her career in public history, LaNesha was in K-12 history and language arts education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education, a master’s in museum studies, a master’s in library science, and a master’s in Comparative Black History. At the University of Washington, she is currently a PhD candidate.
Minister & Servant Leader
LaNesha is an ordained minister and serves as Assistant Pastor of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, one of Seattle’s progressive social justice churches. The other motto that guides her life is “She believes she can, so she does.”
“LaNesha, thank you so much for your incredible leadership… Your incredible way with words, ability to uplift those around you, and deep commitment to equity make you a truly powerful and effective leader, and you light the way for all those who follow you.”
— K. Hunter
“History is literally present in all that we do.”
— James Baldwin
