Not Your Momma's History

About Us

Not Your Momma's History consults with and aids museums, historical sites, historical societies, private businesses, etc. in developing specialized programming about slavery and the African experience within 18th and 19th century America.    Not Your Momma’s History also runs a YouTube channel with over 200,000 subscribers and 5 million views, that shows the day to day lives of Black people throughout American history.

Cheyney has taken her “Let’s Talk About Slavery” table to over 30 parks, historical sites, and public events across America to provide a safe place for people to learn and talk about the history of slavery.  

Cheyney graduated from Simmons University in 2011 with a bachelors in Political Science. 

In 2021 Cheyney was chosen to be an  African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Fellow for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  Her project, titled The Ancestor’s Future: An Afrofuturist Journey Through History, was both a piece of performance art and a conversation inspired by Afrofuturism about the future of historic preservation on former sites of enslavement. Cheyney uses clothing designs that meld modern textiles that speak to the Black experience in America with 18th and 19th century silhouettes.  

Cheyney McKnight is the founder and owner of Not Your Momma’s History. She acts as an interpreter advocate for interpreters of color at historical sites up and down the east Coast, providing them with much needed on call support.  She uses her clothing and primary sources to make connections between past and present events through performance art pieces.