MIMI MITCHELL, AUTHOR OF THE SARA'S STORY SERIES, was born in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia. Jim Crow laws lingered in the South long after the Plessy v. Ferguson decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954, so Mimi saw great changes during her youth. "I simply never saw the racial separation until I went to the movies in my late teen years and recognized, for the first time, the separate drinking fountains and seating areas for 'negroes' and whites! I was confounded both by the segregation as much as by the fact that I had never been aware of it! I was possessed by a severe mental scotoma regarding race relations. All my life, I have feared that I may possess other psychological blind spots.”

 

Mimi was the first in her family to attend college.  At 18 she packed one bag and left home to attend Berea College through their free tuition program.  She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, completed a Master’s Degree in Education from Georgia State University and conducted post graduate research and study through Georgia State University’s  PhD program.  Mimi taught Economics, History, Sociology and Psychology to high risk Atlanta-area students through a public “alternative” high school for over 12 years before retiring to rural Virginia.

 

Mimi and her husband have enjoyed travelling, gardening, writing, spending time with their three grandchildren and volunteering in their “retirement.” Mimi currently serves on the local Board of Social Services.  She and her husband have travelled widely throughout the United States, in Canada, Mexico, Europe, parts of South America and Australia.  She is overjoyed to now have the time and opportunity to put into words and share the stories that have so long dwelled inside the recesses of her mind.