CINCINNATI, OH (May 16, 2018) – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has named Jacqueline K. Dace as its new deputy director effective June 11, 2018. Dace is currently the director of internal affairs at the National Blues Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dace has an extensive background in public history and brings a wealth of curatorial, educational and museum leadership experience to the position. At the National Blues Museum, Dace has been the curatorial lead in defining the scope and direction of the museum’s exhibitions and public and educational programming.
“The last time I visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center was in 2014, with a group of civil rights activist, as part of the 50th commemoration for Freedom Summer,” says Dace. “I've always been enamored with this space and the mission. I'm so excited to become part of the team. This is a journey that I cannot wait to make.”
Dace became the director of internal affairs at the National Blues Museum in February 2016. Her previous positions include project manager for the recently opened Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, collections manager at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, curator of African American history at the Missouri Historical Society and adjunct professor of Afro-African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
Dace is a recipient of the Hollywood Black Film Festival and the Kansas City Film Festival Awards, as well as the National Arts Strategies Fellowship. She participated in the inaugural Public History Institute, developed by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, held at Yale University. Dace has served as a practitioner with W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Racial Equity program and graduated from the Jackson Division of the FBI Citizens Academy. Dace also served on the local arrangements committee for the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Alliance of Museums and is a board member for the Association of African American Museums. Dace was recently selected to participate in the first American Express Women in Music Leadership Academy, 2018, held in New York City.
“Jackie’s knowledge of our collective history and her vision for the cultural sustainability of museums will strengthen the institution’s upward trajectory -- from great to greatness,” says President Dion Brown. “Her skill set, curating numerous exhibits over a 26 year career, is an incredible asset for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.”
To learn more about the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, visit freedomenter.org.
