Grant is known for his advocacy and activism roles, but his career started on Broadway before turning to work with the New York City Department of Human Services. He moved back to Tillery and taught with the Halifax County School System for 12 years.

Throughout his career, Grant has held many community positions. From 1982 to 1986, Grant was on the board of directors for the Halifax County Board of Education. In 1984, with students and professors from Duke, University of North Carolina, and East Carolina University,  Grant established the Tillery People’s Clinic. In 1993, the Halifax County NAACP recognized Grant with the Community Service Award.

From 1992 to 1998, Grant convened the N.C. Hog Roundtable, which in 1997 led to a state-wide moratorium on new construction and expansion of confined animal feeding operations. In 1996, Grant earned the Trail Blazer Award for Environmental Justice from the Region IV Environmental Justice Action Task Force. He was a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Small Towns & Cities Advisory Council from 1996-1998. In 1997, Grant received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Eastern North Carolina Theological Institute.  

Grant’s most significant achievement was leading the Black farmer lawsuit, Pigford v. Glickman, against the USDA, which led to the largest financial settlement of a civil rights suit of $2.4 billion. Pigford vs. Glickman brought people together as people saw they were not the only ones struggling. The movement led to the establishment of the National Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association (BFAA) in 1997, which ensured that the work that began in Tillery would have county, regional, state, national, and global impacts.

Grant has also been involved with the North Carolina Hunger Coalition, the Fund for Southern Communities (Atlanta, GA), the Center for Women’s Economic Alternatives (Ahoskie, NC), and the Halifax County Black Caucus. He served on the planning committee for Who Owns America Conference III (Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison), the EPA’s Environmental Justice Enforcement Roundtable Taskforce, and the Groundwater Foundation’s Symposium Executive Committee. He is an advisory board member and chairperson of the African American Environmental Action Justice Network (AAEJAN)  and co-director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.

Grant was appointed the Local Convener for the Year of the Volunteer in 1998 by Governor James B. Hunt of North Carolina. Also, in 1998,  The Charlotte Observer designated Grant a “Guardian of the Environment” and received the first Halifax County NAACP Humanitarian Award. He also received the Community Leadership Award from the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus in 1998. In 2000, Grant was recognized with the Rural Sociological Society’s “Distinguished Service to Rural Life” Award for his work with Black farmers in America, and in 2002, with the Elijah Muhammad Award of Excellence.

Grant appeared on CBS’ 60 Minutes (“Pork Power”) in 1996. He has made several appearances on North Carolina Public Television Now and has received coverage in numerous other media. He has authored and co-authored several papers on the destruction of the environment by corporate hog-growing facilities and the decline of Black farmers in America.

In 2003, Grant received the “Individual Award for Leadership in Environmental Stewardship” from the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future, the first North Carolina Democracy’s Torchbearer Award for Excellence in Organizing for Democracy, and the Land Loss Prevention Project’s “Steward of the Land” Award.

In 2004, Grant convened a group in North Carolina of individuals interested in the Black farmers’ movement, environmental issues, and the community economic development movement to establish the Black Family Land Trust (BFLT), the country’s first land trust focused on protecting African-American land and farms. In 2009, Grant received the CoGenerate’s Purpose Prize Fellowship in 2009.

Grant and his neighbors have done everything to preserve Black-owned farmland, from standing down a sheriff who was foreclosing on Grant’s family’s farm to launching a class action lawsuit proving that federal farm programs discriminated against black farmers. Grant sees the impact owning land has on being treated with respect: “It was transformative, no doubt about it,” he says. More than 200 Black families now own farms in Tillery, and that generational wealth and heritage will be passed on to children and grandchildren. Many farmsteads have small cemeteries so the older generations can remain on the land they worked for that their descendants now own.

Grant is the executive director for Concerned Citizens of Tillery. This organization built upon the work of previous organizations dedicated to Civil Rights and Social Justice for African Americans in Tillery and Halifax County. Grant works to address the many manifestations of racism and social, economic, and environmental injustices found in the South through advocacy, activism, education, capacity-building, leadership development, and community organizing.

Grant believes the concept of “community” has been lost in enduring racism and the overkill of capitalism, religious piety, and environmental injustice. He thinks it is a daily priority to nurture communities with self-empowerment, political awareness, futurism, the destiny of our children, and knowledge of the rich local history and culture.