Kathe Hambrick-Jackson

2010 Louisiana Role Model
The Arts Facet

Ms. Kathe Hambrick-Jackson is an established grant writer, curator, educator, preservationist, and event planner. While serving her community in these capacities, Ms. Hambrick-Jackson is also credited with establishing one of the south’s first museums dedicated to interpreting slavery and the achievements of African Americans in the rural communities along the Mississippi River Road corridor. Within the first few years, the River Road African American Museum became a major repository for historical documents, oral histories, artifacts and art related to the culture of African Americans in south Louisiana’s River Region.  Ms. Hambrick-Jackson was determined to develop the Museum into an institution where visitors from around the world may become educated about Louisiana’s rich history and culture.  In spite of many challenges and limited financial resources, she forged ahead and in 2005, the Museum was selected as one of America’s top ten African American museums.

Her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed, for under Ms. Hambrick-Jackson’s leadership, the Museum has become an internationally recognized institution that has been featured in Essence, Emerge, and American Visions magazines, the CBS Morning Show, the BBC Learning Channel, the London Sunday Times, Tokyo Times, New York Times, Times Picayune, and The Advocate newspapers. Ms. Hambrick-Jackson has received numerous community service awards for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of the arts and most recently, she was honored by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.  Ms. Hambrick-Jackson has also been elected as National President of the Association of African American Museums, where she will serve in this leadership role from 2010 through 2013.