IMPACT
IMPACT Fellowship
The IMPACT Fellowship is an immersive, community-centered extension of the Campbell-Wright HBCU Gullah Geechee Internship designed to support emerging scholars, artists, archivists, and cultural workers as they engage directly with Gullah Geechee communities throughout the Southeast. Fellows work alongside culture bearers, historians, environmental stewards, and preservation organizations to develop projects that strengthen cultural sustainability, expand public access to history, and uplift local stories through exhibitions, oral histories, performances, digital media, and community programming. Rooted in the belief that preservation must be collaborative and intergenerational, the fellowship creates opportunities for students and recent graduates to apply their academic training in meaningful, place-based ways while building lasting relationships across the Gullah Geechee Corridor.
Through the fellowship, participants receive mentorship, hands-on training, and professional development in areas such as archival practice, historical interpretation, digital storytelling, exhibit development, and public humanities. Fellows contribute to active community projects at museums, historic sites, cultural centers, and grassroots organizations while also producing original creative or research-based work that reflects their interests and the needs of the host community. The program encourages participants to explore pathways in museums, libraries, archives, education, environmental justice, arts administration, and cultural tourism while helping to build a new generation of leaders committed to preserving and advancing Gullah Geechee culture for the future.
Becca Haynesworth
HOWARD UNIVERSITY Becca Rayehanatou Haynesworth is a writer and community organizer from Raleigh, North Carolina, who recently graduated from Howard University, and holds a BA in Media Management and a Double Minor in Africana Studies and Economics.
Host: Marshview Community Organic Farm
St. Helena Island, South Carolina
Fatoumata Jatta
HOWARD UNIVERSITYHost: Marshview Community Organic Farm
St. Helena Island, South Carolina
Jahrik Browner
MOREHOUSE COLLEGEJahrik Browner is a graduate of Morehouse College. His research interests focus on the intersections of Gullah Geechee culture, environmental stewardship, and maritime traditions, including the preservation of sweetgrass basket materials, fishing practices, and coastal ecological knowledge.
In addition to his cultural research, Browner serves as a UN Youth Ambassador advocating for issues related to nuclear proliferation and global sustainability. He is passionate about community-centered initiatives, public history, and building partnerships that support impactful cultural and environmental work.
Host: Coastal Community Foundation
Beaufort, South Carolina
Nyla Jones
Nyla Jones is a poet, scholar, teacher, and root-worker of Gullah-Geechee and Jamaican descent. Trained in Literature at Howard University, she is interested in the inevitable collisions between Black literary texts, material landscapes, embodiment, and affect.
HOWARD UNIVERSITYHost: Bluffton Gullah Cultural Heritage Center
Bluffton, South Carolina
Omar Culbreath Jr.
Omar Culbreath Jr., is a 2026 graduate of Morehouse College from Columbia, SC. He received his BA is an Africana Studies major with a minor in Political Science on the JD/PHD track.
MOREHOUSE COLLEGEHost: Lowcountry Gullah Foundation
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Zoe Coker
HOWARD UNIVERSITY/UCLAZoe M. Coker is a third-year doctoral student in ethnomusicology at UCLA. Her research interests lie at the convergence of jazz scholarship, black studies, and black feminist ethnography. She is also a poet and developing textile artist and goldsmith.
Host: Bluffton Gullah Cultural Heritage Center
Bluffton, South Carolina