DaLyah Jones is a multimedia storyteller, researcher, and founder of the PECAN Project, a reparative journalism and storytelling initiative that centers Black rural life and Afro-Texan histories. Her work explores Environmental Justice, Reproductive Justice, Black liberation, and cultural memory through writing, multimedia exhibitions, and community-centered programming.

Through the PECAN Project, Jones documents the lives of trail riders, ranchers, and agrarian land stewards in Deep East Texas and the Houston region. She combines archival research, oral histories, and interactive storytelling to center marginalized voices and resist extractive narratives. The aim is to use this storytelling to make a call for reparations for Black Texans. Her projects often function as living archives, creating spaces for reflection, dialogue, and collective wisdom.

Jones is a recipient of the Outsider Preservation Initiative with the Freedom Colonies Project, recognition that highlights her commitment to preserving and celebrating Afro-Texan cultural legacies. She has also served as a Program Officer for the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund at Borealis Philanthropy, providing strategy, funding, and capacity-building support to BIPOC journalism organizations across the country.

Jones’s practice is deeply informed by her work with Press On, a movement journalism organization dedicated to giving the tools of journalism to oppressed communities. As a Treasurer and Board Member, she helped strategize events, coordinate grants, and support the organization’s mission to empower marginalized people to tell their own stories.

Her work situates contemporary storytelling within traditions of communal memory, ecological stewardship, and liberation practice. Jones has collaborated with museums, newsrooms, cultural institutions, and grassroots organizations to co-produce exhibitions, writing and programming that foreground Black rural experiences and ecological knowledge.

Featured Image:  Portrait of DaLyah Jones.