Kendric Perkins

Kendric Perkins is an Education Specialist at The Historic New Orleans Collection, where he designs curriculums, tours, and programs to engage and educate the community about the important and unique stories of our city. Kendric served in the United States Marine Corps. While at sea, he spent countless hours combing through the books of the ship’s library. The books he read contained information on New Orleans, Caribbean, and Latin American history, and this period of self-education sparked an intense desire to study history. After being honorably discharged, Kendric studied history at the University of New Orleans. He earned a B.A. in History, with a focus on New Orleans and a minor in Sociology. Kendric is a 4th-generation New Orleanian, and a descendant of enslaved and free people of African descent in Louisiana. He traces his family lineage to at least the colonial era. This personal history informs his work at The Historic New Orleans Collection, where he uses a decolonized framework. His research interests include the construction of race, the history of Black chess players in the Americas, Creole identity in Louisiana, and Black resistance movements and revolutions throughout the Americas.