LENOIR, NC (July 22, 2024) ⇒ Please join us on Wednesday, 24 July 2024 @ 6:30 p.m. (yes, it’s “church night” but come on anyway!) as Dr. Leslie McKesson brings a program on the enslaved people at Fort Defiance. She will share how this project came about, how her students at ASU were engaged in the research and their findings, and future plans to continue this journey. This program was presented earlier this year at Fort Defiance and it is truly an amazing story.
The doors will open at 6:00 p.m.
This program is sponsored by a grant from the NC Arts Council via a Grassroots Grant.
We are located at 112 Vaiden Street SW, Lenoir, NC. If you have any questions, please reach us at 828-758-4004 or caldwellheritagemuseum1841@gmail.com.
A donation is requested to support our operating expenses.
A bit about Dr. McKesson…
A Lenoir native, Dr. Leslie Dula McKesson retired from the NC Community College System in 2018. Considering herself “repurposed” rather than “retired” she currently serves as Senior Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for The Industrial Commons in Morganton. She also serves as an adjunct instructor of leadership and education studies for Appalachian State University and also taught at Lenoir Rhyne University.
Dr. McKesson is an active leader in several Burke County organizations, including the Historic Burke Foundation where she is immediate Past President of the Board of Directors. She is a member of the Quaker Meadows Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. At the state level, she is a legislative appointee to the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and is a member of the Board of Directors of the North Caroliniana Society.
Leslie is the author of a book about her Caldwell County roots titled “Black and White: The Story of Harriet Harshaw and Squire James Alfred Dula.” The book received a 2013 Family History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. She is humbled to have received several awards, including Lenoir’s own Harambee Festival and Loving Lenoir service awards.
Leslie completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her graduate work at Appalachian State University, where she received Masters, Education Specialist, and Doctoral degrees. She and her husband George live in Morganton. They have seven adult children and fourteen grandchildren.
