Photo: Disney
Teen starCameron Boyce’slatest role involved no acting at all.
Disney XD and Disney Channel’s newBe Inspiredshort-film series, commemorating Black History Month, is now airing and features the incredible story of Cameron’s grandmother, Jo Ann Boyce, who was one of “The Clinton 12.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling inBrown v. Board of Educationordered Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, to desegregate. Two years later – in the fall of 1956 – 12 black teenagers, who became known as “The Clinton 12,” attended the first integrated public high school in the South. Before that, Jo Ann and her friends were told to go to school 20 miles away from their home.
“My Nana stuck up for what she believed in and did something amazing,” theDescendantsstar, 16, tells PEOPLE. “Things are going to happen in your life and you’re going to face adversity, but if you grow from that and learn from that, you’re a better person because of it.”
Cameras followed Jo Ann, Cameron, his sister and parents to the 12 life-size sculptures of the students in the Green McAdoo Cultural Center in Clinton, Tennessee.
“It was overwhelming. It was emotional,” Jo Ann, 74, tells PEOPLE about the experience of going back to Clinton with her family. “I could go back and remember the days that me and my friends walked down that hill together.”
“All of us, all of our parents, every single student that walked down the hill with me, all of our parents wanted us to do better, she says. “They wanted us to have better opportunities, so therefore education was number one for them. They told us, ‘It may be difficult but you guys go ahead. We are with you.’ "
Since the series was released on Feb. 1 (it’s now also airing on ABC), Jo Ann says the response has been “overwhelming positive.”
She has chosen to forgive, not forget, and she learned from it and has just grown from her experiences.”
source: people.com
