Djuanna Brockington, an adjunct professor of nonprofit management and fundraising at the University of South Carolina in Beaufort, has been named interim executive director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
Dr. Dionne Hoskins-Brown, chair of the corridor’s governing commission, said Brockington’s “passion for the Gullah Geechee culture, coupled with her proven leadership, will undoubtedly contribute to” the group’s continued success.
Brockington said she was honored and excited to lead the organization as it works to protect and enhance the cultural heritage of Gullah Geehee people.
“My plan as interim is to balance immediate needs and challenges with long-term strategic planning, continue to engage a wide range of stakeholders and ensure the corridor’s activities remain in alignment with its mission,” she said.
A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Brockington represents Charleston on the university’s Black Alumni Council. She also chairs Black Ink Charleston, an African American book festival.
Brockington will lead the corridor’s four-person staff while the commission searches for a full-time director. Brockington, who has more than two decades of experience in nonprofit management, said she does not plan to apply as a candidate for the corridor’s full-time leadership position.
She is the principal consultant of Brockington Consulting, LLC. In that capacity she has served in other interim leadership roles. She served as interim CEO for the former People Against Rape, which has been rebranded as Tri-County S.P.E.A.K.S.
The corridor’s commission is the policy-making body for the region created by Congress in 2006 to protect Gullah Geechee culture, natural resources and historic sites in a narrow four-state coastal region that extends from Wilmington, N.C., to St. Augustine, Fla.
Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of enslaved people from West and Central Africa who were brought to the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., wrote the 2006 legislation that created the corridor.
The corridor’s previous executive director, Victoria Smalls, a St. Helena Island native, left the position in November. She was named to the position in July 2021.
During her tenure, Smalls oversaw the move of the corridor’s office from Johns Island to Beaufort. In October, she represented the corridor during meetings in Barbados where the corridor and Barbados signed an agreement to promote tourism and culture jointly.
The corridor is one of 62 National Heritage Areas managed by the National Park Service (NPS). It is unique, however. because the stories told in the corridor only come from one group, Gullah Geechee people within the 440-mile long corridor.
Elisa Kunz, the national heritage areas regional coordinator in Atlanta, said, “The National Park Service is happy to work with the new leadership in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. We are here to support our National Heritage Area partner as they continue to grow and strengthen cultural awareness of this community.”
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