North Carolina’s African American Heritage Commission has a new director with her own history with the agency.

The state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said in a news release this week that Angela Thorpe is the commission’s new director. Thorpe has been the acting director since September 2018 and previously was the commission’s associate director.

Thorpe was the first African American historic interpreter at the James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville. The agency says that while there, she used inclusive programming to attract diverse audiences.

In 2016, she was awarded a diversity and inclusion fellowship by the American Alliance of Museums.

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