John Boyd Jr., a farmer from Baskerville, Virginia, and also the Founder of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), who continues to work his own 1,000-acre farm, where his grandparents once labored as sharecroppers. He has been farming that land with his father for the past 30 years, growing soybeans and wheat while also raising livestock.

“I know there were slaves and sharecroppers that helped build these barns here,” he told ABC News. “You can see the logs were hand-carved by wooden axes. … Just looking at that reminds me of history, where I came from and where we have to go.”

He created the National Black Farmers Association to help Black farmers across the country keep their land and gain fair access to resources. His work shows how one family’s deep roots in the soil can grow into lasting support for farming communities everywhere.