Harvesting Heritage: Gathering Ground

Born and raised in North Charleston, Amethyst Ganaway has been featured in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Garden & Gun and more. Specializing in Southern and African American foodways and the foodways of the African Diaspora, Ganaway also recently headlined the Charleston Wine + Food Festival. She uses her position as a chef and food writer to tell the stories of the region’s history, culture, art, cuisine, and environment. 

Bubba Green and his family have been preparing authentic Gullah meals at their family restaurant, Gullah Grub for over 15 years. Bubba is the owner of Gullahman Oyster LLC. Bubba follows the rules of Gullah traditions when it comes to preparing food. First, eat in season. Each season brings a special harvest and when you eat in season you help protect the earth and maintain balance. Second rule, eat locally. By choosing to eat local you support the small farmer, cut down on need for transportation and you are not buying foods that are grown in a hothouse that is often genetically modified for longer shelf life. The Green family is using foodways within Gullah culture to educate anyone who wants to know the truth about Africa, the slave trade and contributions the African American has made to the making of America.

Johnathan “J. Sims” Sims is a fifth-generation South Carolina farmer, agribusiness leader, and cultural preservation advocate whose family has maintained continuous Black land ownership in Dorchester County since 1876. As co-owner of Sims Farms, LLC — a USDA Certified Organic farm established by his great-great-grandfather Franklin Sims — Johnathan carries forward a rare 150-year legacy of agricultural stewardship, conservation, and community impact in South Carolina.

Under Johnathan’s leadership, Sims Farms bridges past and future through USDA-certified organic produce, heirloom “Sims” Hardneck Garlic, agritourism experiences, educational programming, conservation initiatives, and the development of a vineyard and wine production. The farm serves as both a working agricultural operation and a living classroom — preserving Black foodways, land stewardship traditions, and the cultural history of farming in the Lowcountry. Representing a family story that spans from a 94-year-old matriarch embodying living history to a fifth-generation CEO expanding modern agribusiness initiatives, Johnathan speaks nationally on legacy agriculture, entrepreneurship, conservation, and the importance of protecting Black land ownership in the American South.

Najmah Thomas, Ph.D., is an award-winning change agent, author, and tenured professor whose life’s work sits at the intersection of education and agriculture. A proud product of the families and communities of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, and Petersburg, Virginia, Najmah brings a grounded understanding of community organizing and development to every endeavor.

Ed Atkins Jr. is a Gullah/Geechee fisherman and the owner of Atkins Live Bait, one of the oldest businesses in Beaufort County. There are many challenges already facing our fisheries on St. Helena Island. He has shrimped, fished, crabbed, and harvested oysters around the marshes and creeks of St. Helena Island and the Pine Island area for 60 years.

Sara Makeeba Daise is a Black, queer, 5th-generation Gullah Geechee Writer, Griot, Cultural Worker and Diviner from Beaufort, SC. Her multidisciplinary Sankofa work centers Afrofuturism, ancestor veneration, intergenerational healing, Black queer erotics & desire, and African Diasporic rituals, history & culture-inviting folks to meet their ancestors and themselves.

Acclaimed Gullah chefs Charlotte and Kesha Jenkins are a mother-daughter culinary duo. Charlotte Jenkins, the previous chef and owner of Gullah Cuisine in Mt. Pleasant, SC, has been cooking Gullah foods since she was nine years old. In 1997 she along with her late husband Frank opened the Gullah Cuisine Restaurant. Charlotte and her daughter Kesha continue to spread the Gullah culture by catering small events and producing Gullah-inspired seasonings under Kesha’s “Gullah Tings” brand.

Asiah Mae, stylized A$iahMae, (they/she) is a Black, non-binary Southern poet, humorist and cultural worker with roots in Georgia, South and North Carolina. A multi-hyphenated artist, their background spans across film, curation, production, performance and language arts. A$iahmae is a Watering Hole Fellow and their work has been featured in The Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston Food & Wine Festival, The Post and Courier, and more. They are the co-creator of the writing platform For The Scribes and co-host of its podcast FTS Presents: Penpals, along with fellow poet Willie Kinard III. They are currently serving as the Second Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC.

The owner of Bert & T's Desserts. Bert & T’s Desserts is a Charleston, South Carolina based bakery and creamery specializing in old school southern/ Gullah desserts and small batch handcrafted ice cream. This business is inspired by and named for owner and Charleston native, Christina Miller's grandmothers, “Bertha” and “Eutellia,” affectionately known to friends and family as “Bert” and “T.” Christina's love for baking began at the early age of 4, helping her grandmothers roll pie crusts and fill cake pans. Everything on our menu is made from scratch using heirloom recipes and the highest quality ingredients, just like Christina's grandmothers taught her.

Darryl is a Professional Jazz Saxophonist based out of Savannah, Georgia, with over 40 yrs of experience.

Will Green is a Columbia native. A nearly two-decade veteran of the bar industry, he is part owner in two Columbia institutions: WECO Bottle and Biergarten and The Hoot. He also works as a bar/restaurant consultant. 

John Kamara is a volunteer crew member aboard the Freedom Schooner Amistad and the first Sierra Leonean native to sail on the replica vessel, which is sponsored by United Church of Christ Global Ministries in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the American Missionary Association. He has also served as a crew member aboard the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María replicas. John was a crew member and engineer involved in opening the former St. Helena Museum in downtown Beaufort, now the sheriff’s headquarters, and has dedicated his work to learning, preserving, and promoting Gullah Geechee culture and history. He currently works at the Penn Center as a maintenance groundskeeper, supporting South Carolina history and its historical ties to Sierra Leone.