Miss Janie learned responsibility early, being the oldest of 14 children raised near Broad Creek off Marshland Road. Her days were also touched by joy, like the good times she had with the old Orange Blossom Social Club for women in the Gullah community.
When she was 18, she married James Grant. Together they had 9 children and because their access to education was limited, they were determined that their children and the grandchild they raised would graduate from college. Nine of the children became educators. Most got advanced degrees. And in the new generation of 16 grandchildren, all but one has a college degree.
Ms. Grant planted a garden, canned vegetables, and sewed clothes for all the children with her own patterns, a skill she learned from her mother and taught to her daughters. She operated a vegetable stand beside her home beginning in the 1960’s. The families are long standing members of First African Baptist Church founded on Hilton Head Island founded in 1862. Her detailed knowledge of family and island history was displayed in the 1988 book by Moses Grant (assisted by Janie Aiken Grant), “Looking Back: Reminiscences of a Black Family Heritage on Hilton Head Island.”
