Deah Berry-Mitchell

Deah Berry Mitchell is a full-time doctoral student studying history with a focus on food studies. Complementing this academic endeavor are her previous accomplishments, holding both a bachelor's and master's degree from Southern Methodist University.

Outside the academic realm, Deah is the founder of Nostalgia Black, a business committed to preserving Black history through various services. Since 2018, tourism has been the most popular “vehicle” for this work. She successfully manages the "Soul of DFW Bus Tours," offering insightful journeys into Black culture by visiting historical sites and Black-owned restaurants. As a food writer she has been published in D Magazine, Texas Monthly, New York Times, Local Profile Magazine, Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Report where she is maintained a weekly column, The Dish with Deah, about Tarrant County food and Southern food history. Berry Mitchell is also the author of Cornbread & Collard Greens: How West African & Slavery Influenced Soul Food, which can be found at major retailers including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target and Walmart.

Deah's commitment to preserving and disseminating history extends to her role as a board member of the National Juneteenth Museum, the newly appointed City of Dallas’ Historian-in-Residence where she developed a groundbreaking soon to be released mobile app that uses augmented reality to explore the origins of some of Dallas’ most historic communities. Other volunteer work includes her current appointment to the Dallas County Historical Commission, and continued member of Visit Fort Worth’s Black Tourism Advisory Committee. She is the past chair (2023) of student committee for UNT Food Studies Lecture Series and also works as a teaching assistant at UNT. Berry Mitchell’s recent awards consist of two fellowships: Current Julia Child Gastronomy Foundation Fellow (2023-2025) for her scholarly work researching Black Texas foodways and Kingsford’s Preserve the Pit Fellow for her work advocating for barbecue history through the African American lens.

In her spare time…what spare time??? She enjoys cooking, traveling and pretending she stars in a reboot of the 1960’s classic tv series “Green Acres”.