Susan Graham is white but her children's father is black. While raising her now-adult children, she noticed there wasn’t a biracial option for them to choose on their school and medical forms. Since then she’s helped change that through state legislation.
Her recently released memoir, "Born Biracial: How One Mother Took on Race in America" chronicles her journey of starting the multiracial movement in the United States and launching Project RACE, which stands for Reclassify All Children Equally.
The Los Banos resident and longtime activist put pressure on the U.S Census Bureau to add a "multiracial" option under race. The census shot that down, but agreed to make it so people could check more than one box under race.
Listen to the above interview to hear more about Graham's memoir, her advocacy work and how it took a toll on her personal life.
"For me work became my personal life because I was talking about my children and wanting to do what was right for my children," Graham says. "Advocacy work is extremely difficult. One of the reasons I wrote the book was so that people would learn how to be advocates, learn from my successes and mistakes."
Graham will be at the Barnes & Noble in Fresno for a book signing June 8 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to kick off Multiracial Heritage Week.