A new exhibit celebrates Black fishers, cooks and entrepreneurs in NC鈥檚 seafood industry

瓜神app

Arts & Culture

The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

A new exhibit celebrates Black fishers, cooks and entrepreneurs in NC鈥檚 seafood industry

By Leoneda Inge,

Stacia Brown

Published March 31, 2025 at 12:40 PM EDT

Capt. John Mallette is a commercial fisherman and seafood market owner based in Jacksonville, N.C.

For years, the Black community has played a vital role in North Carolina鈥檚 seafood industry. But the influence of Black culture on the market has been underreported and under-researched鈥攗ntil now. The nonprofit organization, NC Catch, the Black seafood community and researchers have teamed up for a new project called 鈥淩ecognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry.鈥�

Guests

Barbara Garrity-Blake, cultural anthropologist and president of NC Catch
Captain John Mallette, co-owner of Southern Breeze Seafood Co. in Jacksonville

Due South

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of 瓜神app's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at 瓜神app as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda鈥檚 work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital 瓜神app Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

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Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU鈥檚 daily news radio program, 1A, as well as 瓜神app鈥檚 The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for 瓜神app's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC鈥檚 The Takeaway.

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