About the Author
Melanie Johnson Sheppard is from Plainview, Texas- a small town of 30,000 people in the conservative panhandle. She grew up in an interracial household at a time where it was still not a full celebrated family dynamic. To put it into perspective, when her parents were born, it was still illegal for each of them to marry each other in the United States. Her father is from Texas and is from African-American descent, while her mother is from Germany, where she remains a national.
My Story
I want to start by saying I have had an amazing, beautifully, blended life, and I have had many more people accept me for being blended than I have had from those who have hated me because of it. I also cannot deny that those interactions, especially as a child, left wounds and scars in me that would take centuries to heal.
From being denied to play indoors, to harsh classroom treatment from teachers, to even hearing racial slurs “that I should be ok with because I’m only half” is the reason I decided to make this book many years ago. If this helps one child, one family, one individual to treat people better, it was all worth it.
I am excited to say I took all of the good, bad, and the confusing and pushed it into a career in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and dedicated my personal and professional life to continue to strive to make everyone comfortable in being themselves.