Beverly McKenna

Newspaper publishing executive and museum founder Beverly McKenna was born on October 9, 1942 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Vivian Thomas Stanton and Robert L. Stanton. She graduated from South Side High School in Fort Wayne in 1959 and went on to earn her B.A. degree in English from Tennessee State University in 1964.

After graduating from college, McKenna worked as an English teacher at Kekionga Junior High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She then taught in Washington D.C. and served as a public information officer for the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1985, McKenna founded McKenna Publishing Co., and that same year, she co-founded The New Orleans Tribune, a monthly newspaper publication dedicated to empowering the African American community, with her husband, Dr. Dwight McKenna, Kermit Thomas, and James Borders. For over thirty years, McKenna served as The New Orleans Tribune’s publisher and executive editor. Through McKenna Publishing Co., McKenna also created The New Orleans Black Book, a directory of African American owned businesses, and Welcome magazine, a guide for African American tourists visiting New Orleans. McKenna and her husband then co-founded the George and Leah McKenna Museum of African American Art in New Orleans in 2003. In 2008, McKenna and her husband also co-founded Le Musée de F.P.C., a historic house museum in New Orleans dedicated to telling the story of and preserving the material culture of free people of color. McKenna served as Le Musée de F.P.C.’s director and volunteer coordinator.

In 1995, McKenna served on then-New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial’s committee for ESSENCE magazine’s 25th anniversary celebration, the ESSENCE Festival. McKenna also served in the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, the New Orleans Black Chamber of Commerce, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Foundation Board.

McKenna has received numerous awards and honors including an Asante Foundation Award in 2015, a Distinguished Alumni Award from South Side High School in 2017, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund in 2023, and the Treme Heroes 2024 Award from the New Orleans African American Museum.

McKenna and her husband, Dr. Dwight McKenna, reside in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Beverly McKenna was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on December 13, 2023.