Ashe Scholarship at USCB Helps
Gullah-Geechee Community
On a visit to the South Carolina Lowcountry in 1977, photographer and activist Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe encountered Daufuskie Island.
South of Hilton Head Island and only accessible by boat, Daufuskie is home to an isolated Gullah-Geechee community. A coastal culture unique to the southeastern United States, Gullah-Geechee is rooted in the history, traditions and language of the region’s formerly enslaved people—whose ancestry is mostly west African.
Moutoussamy-Ashe was drawn to the resilient Daufuskie Island Gullah-Geechee and she began photographing and filming them, their daily lives, and their special occasions. Her engaging images and videos, featured in a wide range of publications and exhibitions worldwide, capture the essence of an African American community fighting to survive while clinging to its rich cultural heritage.
Through her work, Moutoussamy-Ashe has raised international awareness of the Gullah-Geechee people. In 2021, she invested in their future by funding a scholarship at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, whose main campus in Bluffton, SC, is about a 45-minute ferry ride from Daufuskie Island.
“My goal was an effort to make education as comfortable and as accessible as possible for the families of the Gullah-Geechee and their legacies,” Moutoussamy-Ashe said.
The Daufuskie Island Gullah-Geechee Endowed Scholarship at USCB is awarded solely to students who trace their ancestry to the Gullah-Geechee.
One recent recipient of the scholarship is Quintilian “Q” Fields, Class of 2025. The oldest of six siblings, he has deep generational roots in the Lowcountry’s Gullah-Geechee community.
“This scholarship made a way for me to go to college,” Fields said. “It has meant a lot for me and my family, and it illuminated the fact of how my parents and my grandparents worked so hard for me to get an education.”
Fields grew up in rural Seabrook, SC, nestled on the edge of the salt marshes of northern Beaufort County. In 2022, he graduated from Whale Branch Early College High School with enough credits to enroll at USCB as a junior.
In his time at USCB, Fields served as a Resident Assistant and as a Student Ambassador. He was also active in the Pre-Professionals Club and intramurals. He received the 2023 Outstanding First-Year Student Award, and he was selected USCB’s first homecoming king in 2024.
Fields has long dreamed of being a family medicine physician, and the Daufuskie Island Gullah-Geechee Endowed Scholarship put him on that career path. At USCB, he took full advantage of the opportunities available to him as a Biology major on a pre-health track.
In summer 2023, Fields participated in an undergraduate research experience at the Rutgers University Biomolecular Design Lab, focusing on DNA nanotechnology. He was one of just 12 students nationally selected for the program.
A year later, Fields participated in the MedEx Academy, a partnership between Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville, SC. He completed 50 hours of clinical rounds with physicians in various specialty areas to gain a deeper understanding of healthcare procedures and the needs of infants, adolescents and the elderly. Additionally, he and his MedEx classmates developed strategies for taking the MCAT—the Medical College Admission Test.
In 2024, Fields also spent a day shadowing Dr. Claude Tolbot, an ob/gyn physician at Coastal Carolina Hospital in Hardeeville, SC, to learn about patient histories, physical exams, diagnostics, and patient counseling.
After graduating summa cum laude from USCB in May 2025, Fields returned to the MedEx Academy. This time, he conducted another 50 hours of clinical rounds and worked in a cadaver lab. When his summer program at MedEx ended, Fields traveled to Uganda on a two-week medical trip with Lifeline Foreign Missions.
Currently, Fields is studying for the MCAT and working as a Certified Medical Assistant at Beaufort Memorial Hospital.
Years from now, when he’s done with medical school, Fields plans to live and practice in the Lowcountry—and give back to his community.
For more information about establishing a scholarship at USCB, contact Tim Daniels, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations, at 843-208-8258 or tdaniels@uscb.edu.
- USCB -
JJ 02/05/2026