Marketing major Azraa Morgan ’29 connects Hampton University’s agricultural heritage with a new generation’s fight against food insecurity.
HAMPTON, Va. – When Azraa Morgan ’29 planted her first strawberry at Metro Atlanta Urban Farm this summer, nothing happened.
At least, not immediately.
For six weeks, the Hampton University marketing major tended the plant and waited. Then, finally, it bloomed.
For Morgan, a rising sophomore from Detroit, the small breakthrough offered a lesson much larger than the fruit itself.
“That strawberry taught me patience. It taught me discipline,” Morgan said. “It taught me that if you keep showing up every day, eventually you’ll see the fruit of your work.”
That lesson has come to define Morgan’s summer at Metro Atlanta Urban Farm, where she has harvested crops, packed fresh produce, and helped distribute food to more than 250 families each week. But her experience also represents something larger: a Hampton student carrying forward the University’s historic connection to agriculture while exploring how marketing, business and community engagement can help address food insecurity in America’s cities.
Agriculture has been part of Hampton’s identity since its earliest years. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, the institution educated generations of students through a model that connected learning, agriculture, skilled work and service. Agricultural instruction helped prepare students not only to cultivate land, but also to build livelihoods, strengthen communities, and create greater economic independence.
More than a century and a half later, Morgan sees an opportunity for a new generation of Hampton students to interpret that legacy for the challenges of their time.
“Agriculture is already part of who we are,” Morgan said. “Reconnecting with those agricultural roots is one of the best ways we can honor our history while serving today’s communities.”
Detroit Planted the Seed
Morgan’s interest in food access began long before she arrived at Hampton.
Growing up in Detroit, she noticed an imbalance that became increasingly difficult to ignore. In her neighborhood, fast-food restaurants and convenience stores were abundant, while stores offering affordable fresh fruits and vegetables could be much harder to find.
Travel outside the city into nearby suburbs, she recalled, and the landscape could change dramatically, with grocery stores, farmers markets and health food stores offering choices that were not as readily available in some Detroit neighborhoods.
“For so many families, unhealthy food wasn’t necessarily a choice,” Morgan said. “It was what was available, what was affordable and what was close to home.”
But Detroit showed Morgan something else.
Across the city, residents were converting vacant lots into gardens. Community farms were producing food. Neighbors were creating solutions for other neighbors.
“Detroit didn’t just show me the problem. Detroit also showed me the solution,” Morgan said. “Urban farming isn’t just about agriculture. It’s about dignity. It’s about ownership. It’s about a community deciding that even if no one else invests in us, we’re still going to invest in ourselves.”
That experience planted the foundation for an ambition Morgan hopes to pursue after college. One day, she wants to return to Detroit and establish a grocery store that provides fresh, nutritious and affordable food to families in her community.
Hampton helped her begin thinking about how to turn that ambition into a plan.
From a Hampton Classroom to an Atlanta Farm
During Morgan’s first year at Hampton, an English course pushed her to examine Detroit’s food-access challenges from a different perspective.
Her professor, Dr. Jocelyn Amevuvor, challenged students to move beyond identifying problems and begin developing solutions. For her final project, Morgan focused on food access in Detroit, examining what a sustainable response would require, including funding, partnerships and long-term community support.
The assignment changed the way she thought about her own responsibility.
“For the first time, I realized I can do something about it,” Morgan said.
When the semester ended, she did not want the project to remain an academic exercise. She began searching for an organization already doing the work and discovered Metro Atlanta Urban Farm.
“It wasn’t just an internship,” Morgan said. “It was an opportunity to turn the ideas that had been growing in my mind into real experience serving families, learning urban agriculture and understanding what it truly takes to create lasting change in a community.”
At the farm, Morgan quickly discovered that urban agriculture involves much more than planting and harvesting.
Each week, she helped prepare food boxes for more than 250 families. She learned about cultivation and food distribution while gaining exposure to the communications and nonprofit marketing required to sustain a community-focused agricultural organization.
“Before this internship, I thought urban farming was mostly about growing food,” Morgan said. “I left realizing it was never just about tomatoes, peppers or cucumbers. It was about people.”
Where Agriculture and Marketing Meet
That realization has particular significance for Morgan as a marketing major.
Modern agriculture depends on scientists, growers and agricultural specialists, but getting food, information and resources into communities also requires business strategy, communications, fundraising, partnerships and consumer education.
For Morgan, marketing is not separate from the mission of urban agriculture. It can help sustain it.
Marketing can help a nonprofit explain its impact to donors. It can help farmers connect with consumers. It can educate families about available resources, strengthen community partnerships and turn public awareness into participation.
Morgan’s internship demonstrates why the future of agriculture will require expertise from well beyond traditional agricultural disciplines.
Dr. Ziette Hayes, dean of Hampton University’s James T. George School of Business, said Morgan’s experience illustrates the breadth of opportunities available to business students.
“Azraa’s experience demonstrates that marketing is ultimately about understanding people and connecting them with ideas, resources and opportunities,” Hayes said. “Agriculture may begin with what we grow, but creating sustainable impact requires people who understand communities, organizations and markets. Experiences like this are an example of how our students create ‘options, not issues’ on their journey to a business degree.”
Hampton’s Agricultural Legacy Continues Through Research
Morgan’s work also connects with a broader continuum of agricultural inquiry at Hampton.
The University’s agricultural roots date to its founding era, when agricultural education was integrated into the preparation of students for lives of work, leadership and service. Over time, Hampton offered study in areas including botany and horticulture and operated greenhouse facilities that supported the study of plant life.
Today, that legacy is expressed through scientific research addressing contemporary agricultural challenges.
Dr. Noufal Lakhssassi, a plant geneticist and professor in Hampton’s Department of Biological Sciences, studies soybean genetics and plant resistance to agricultural pests.
Soybeans are deeply embedded in the global economy. They are used in food, animal feed, cooking oils, consumer products and renewable fuels. Threats to soybean production can therefore ripple through farms, food systems and supply chains.
In a 2025 study published in Communications Biology, Lakhssassi and collaborators identified two novel genes associated with soybean resistance to soybean cyst nematode, a destructive agricultural pest.
The research points toward new possibilities for developing more resilient soybean varieties and illustrates how agricultural discovery can have consequences far beyond a laboratory.
For Lakhssassi, Morgan’s experience represents another dimension of that work.
“Science provides insights to develop stronger and more resilient crops, however, the primary goal of agriculture is to nourish people, ,” Lakhssassi said. “Azraa’s efforts directly engage the community in this mission. Urban farms can serve as hubs where research, education, nutrition, and community service converge. This link between innovation and the community is crucial for the future of agriculture.”
Planting Something That Lasts
Morgan is already thinking about bringing what she learned in Atlanta back to Hampton.
One of her goals is to establish a Farm Club at the University, creating an opportunity for students across disciplines to participate in agriculture, food education and community service.
She envisions biology students working alongside marketing majors, engineers alongside nursing students, and future educators and entrepreneurs contributing their own expertise.
“Agriculture isn’t just for agriculture majors,” Morgan said. “Food affects every community, which means every student has something to contribute.”
For Morgan, such an organization could do more than grow fruits and vegetables. It could create another bridge between Hampton’s history and its future.
It could also give students a tangible way to practice one of the lessons she says Hampton has reinforced throughout her education: leadership is measured by what one leaves behind for others.
“My goal has always been to leave Hampton University better than I found it,” Morgan said. “The beautiful thing is that Hampton has already done that for me.”
More than 150 years after agriculture became part of Hampton’s educational foundation, Morgan is helping reimagine what that legacy can mean for a new generation.
The tools may have changed. The fields may now include vacant city lots and urban farms. The students may study marketing, biology, engineering or business.
But the purpose remains rooted in service.
“We can be the generation that plants the seed, keeps showing up and leaves every place better than we found it,” Morgan said. “The greatest legacy you can leave is the lives you help change.”
About Hampton University
Founded in 1868, Hampton University is one of the nation’s strongest Historically Black Colleges and Universities and a prestigious Carnegie R2-designated research institution. For more than 150 years, Hampton has prepared world-ready leaders of character and consequence through a distinctive educational experience grounded in academic excellence, leadership, innovation, and service.
Home to students from 44 states and 32 countries and territories, the University is nationally recognized for groundbreaking research in atmospheric science, cancer research, cybersecurity, marine and environmental science, and other disciplines that address society’s most pressing challenges. With an annual economic impact of $530 million across the Commonwealth of Virginia, Hampton continues to advance discovery, strengthen communities, and prepare graduates to lead with purpose in an increasingly interconnected world. Learn more at www.hamptonu.edu.
