(CNN) Cameron Boyce was proud of his family background.

In what was reportedly his last interview, the 20-year-old talked to Haute Living about his diverse heritage which included a Jewish mother, an African-American father and grandmother who became one of the symbols of the civil rights movement.

The actor's grandmother, Jo Ann Allen Boyce, was one of the "Clinton 12," a group of black students who made history after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which ordered Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee, to desegregate.

She recently co-authored a book titled, "This Promise of Change: One Girl's Story in the Fight for School Equality."

"Her story doesn't just inspire me ... It hits home with everyone who stops to listen to it," her grandson told the publication.

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