Where are they now?
Kara Deadmon
Kara Deadmon has been very busy pursuing her dreams and passions since graduating in 2005.
Kara was the recipient of the Davie County Crosby Scholarship from the Foundation and attended Wake Forest University. She transferred to Pfeiffer University with a degree in History. She pursued her master’s degree in public history at University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Kara’s graduate work focused on the interpretation of race and gender in historic spaces. She joined the North Carolina State Historic Sites as the Assistant Site Manager at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum just after graduation.
She is currently the Museum Curator of the North Carolina State Capitol. The Capitol serves as the office of North Carolina’s governor and is the historic home of our state’s General Assembly. At the Capitol, Kara’s role focuses on a more inclusive historic narrative by interpreting the stories of enslaved people who constructed the Capitol.
In 2013, she won the Margaret T. Burroughs and Charles H. Wright Fellowship at the Association of African American Museums conference. In 2019, she attended the Smithsonian Institution: Interpreting African American History & Culture Workshop, and she is a Certified Interpretive Guide with the National Association of Interpretation.
Given all of Kara’s unique experiences since her early high school days, I asked her what would be her best advice to give to our community youth. She said “Study and live abroad. Take advantage of study abroad programs that your university or college offers if you’re able.” I studied abroad in the United Kingdom when I was a college senior, and the relationships I made during that time are still some of my most fulfilling. Living on my own abroad also taught me resilience and self-reliance.
