Deah Berry Mitchell

Deah Berry Mitchell is a writer, historian, cultural preservationist and the founder of Road East Magazine, a digital publication that explores the cultural roots, food traditions and historical narratives that shape Texas, especially through the lens of Black, Indigenous and immigrant communities. Her work centers memory, place and identity, using storytelling to make history more accessible and rooted in lived experience.

Mitchell created Deep Ellum AR, the first augmented reality app in the United States developed by a woman to highlight Black history. Funded by the City of Dallas, the app is used in classrooms, walking tours and cultural institutions across North Texas.

Mitchell is a PhD candidate in history at the University of North Texas, and her dissertation explores Black Texas foodways as expressions of survival, resistance and adaptation. She holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern Methodist University.

Mitchell teaches U.S. history as an adjunct professor at Tarrant County College.

She is a Julia Child Foundation Gastronomy and Culinary History Fellow, 2023–2025, and a Kingsford Preserve the Pit Fellow, 2023, recognized for her work documenting Black barbecue traditions and community food culture in Texas. Mitchell is also a former James Beard Awards judge.

She serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the Dallas County Historical Commission, Visit Fort Worth's Black Tourism Council, the Texas State Historical Association Program Committee and the steering committee of the Texas Black Invitational Rodeo.

Her forthcoming publications include: a chapter on Black women in Texas barbecue for "Women and Work in Texas History," from Texas A&M University Press; a contributor role in the Texas-focused edition of "The American Yawp" from Stanford University Press; and a profile feature in a California college textbook focused on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Through research, technology, writing and cultural projects, Mitchell focuses on preserving underrepresented histories and creating spaces where communities can see themselves reflected in the past and the future.