About the Author

Melvina Young and her work have been featured in the New York Times, on CNN.com, the Grio, the Emmy Award winning daytime talk show The Real, AmazonLive, and other national and local news publications. She has written hundreds of cards and over dozen books as well as created internet content...

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  1. This is very educational for our youth today as our grandparents instilled in our lives. It reminds me of the poem, “Hey Black Child” And It Is So Father God. These stories has imparted great worth in my life like my book, Let Me Breathe by MonaLisa Covington during the CoronaVirus Pandemic 2021.

  2. I can relate to this on SO many levels. My memaw was big in statute and attitude as well and was “my person” for so many reasons. Your story and storytelling prowess are beautifully mastered here and I so enjoyed reading your words. Thank you for sharing this with me/us/the world. ❤️

  3. Such a much-needed message. Your grandmother was quite a lady. Wish I could have spent more time with my grandmother, but she lived in a different town. She was exceptional lady, knowledgeable beyond her years. Hoping that these blogs are an inspiration to others as they are to me. Thank you and continued blessings in hope that you will continue to inspire others.

    • Bertie,

      Thank you so much for reading and sharing a little bit of your grandmother. I love hearing how she inspired you even though she didn’t live close to you.

      So happy to have you here in this conversation. I love that this space allows us to inspire one another.

  4. Wonderfully inlighning, centainly reflects my History, my Grandma and Ganddad for that matter along with my Great GrandDads. Who where able to florish in spite OFF.

    Pamela

  5. This is so wonderful. It seems like with each passing day I realize more deeply how much my selfhood has been formed by Black women.

    Thank you for sharing your grandmama with us.

    • Querida,

      Thank you so much for reading. I agree with you. Knowing what our foremothers did to make a space in the world for us and see us flourish can give us our fullest sense of ourselves as Black women.

  6. I loved this.. Thank you so much for sharing. I am about to be a 1st time grandma so I hope I can teach my grandbaby and I hope I have already taught my about to graduate from University of Southern Mississippi daughter some black womanhood, black girl magic, resilience, independency and most importantly…love. thank you again.

    • Nicole, congratulations on your first grandbaby!

      You will imprint your the baby with the same love, power, and wisdom you gave your daughter. That’s a beautiful kind of generational wealth.

  7. Oh my God! I wept as I read this because our background as children is eerily similar! I grew up in the little town of Senatobia, Miss just 40 miles down I-55 from Memphis, TN so I grew up listening to WDIA as well. Lost my mother to a stroke when I was only 10 so my granny, dad and my older sisters raised us. I’m from a family of 12 as well. I so enjoyed reading your story! Be blessed my sister!

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