Kira Duke
Educational Specialist for Teaching with Primary Sources
kira.duke@mtsu.edu
Kira Duke is the educational specialist for the Center for Historic Preservation. In this position, she serves as the director of the Teaching with Primary Sources Southern Region at Middle Tennessee State University. The Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program strives to provide instructional materials, tools, education, and professional development that enhance teachers' ability to integrate digitized primary sources from the Library of Congress into instruction that builds student literacy, critical thinking skills, content knowledge and the ability to conduct original research.
Since 2008, the CHP has offered professional development and educational resources centering primary sources from the Library’s collection for Tennessee’s K-12 educators. In her role with the TPS program, Duke has worked with educators from across the state to offer high-quality teacher professional development, written numerous lesson plans featured on the TPS-MTSU website, and helped build TPS-MTSU as a leading resource for social studies educators in the state. Beginning in February 2025, the CHP transitioned to leading the newly created TPS Southern Region. In her capacity as director of the TPS-SR, Duke is working to extend access to the TPS program to education audiences in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
In 2016, Duke was recognized by the National Park Service for Outstanding Service Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Memphis Massacre. A longtime board member of the Tennessee Council for History Education, Duke currently serves as state coordinator and is an active member of the Discover Tennessee History collaborative. In 2023, Duke became the Middle Tennessee Regional History Day coordinator.
Duke received her B.A. in History at Rhodes College in Memphis. She completed her M.A. in History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her thesis, entitled “To Disturb the People as Little as Possible: The Desegregation of Memphis City Schools,” explored how school desegregation unfolded in the Memphis City School System. Prior to joining the CHP in 2010, she worked 4½ years at the National Civil Rights Museum as Education Programs Manager.
