Every February, the APHIS community celebrates Black History Month and honors the many and varied contributions of African Americans to U.S. history. This year’s Black History Month theme is “The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity.” This feature, a personal narrative by APHIS employee Langston Hull, is the first in a two-part series recognizing Black employees at APHIS and their connection to agriculture, family, and the land.
My name is Langston Hull, and I am the Scientific Technical Director with APHIS’ International Services Program. I live in Maryland now, but I come from a family deeply rooted in Louisiana. We are Creole—of African, European, and Native American ancestry. For generations, my family has farmed expansive acres of sugar cane, raised various farm animals, and grown other row crops.
For us, food has always been tied to faith. Growing up, we spent Sundays after church with my grandmother’s offerings on the potluck table. Like our ancestors, who worked magic with less desirable parts of livestock and plant crops (now famed as soul food), my grandmother perfected cooking techniques that helped our family sustain ourselves with crops from our own land. With such delicious food and deeply rooted values surrounding me, my interest in and reverence for the land, the environment, plant crops, and farm animals became an inseparable part of who I am.
My early experiences on the farm led me to pursue studies at Louisiana State University. After graduating with my DVM degree, I earned a Ph.D. in infectious diseases/molecular microbiology. I spent a few years doing research work with other federal agencies in bio- and agro-defense and malaria immunology before coming to APHIS in 2010. I quickly found that my experience on the farm has helped me connect with breeders and producers, since I understand what they face every day.