Coming Of Age In Mississippi By Anne Moody

Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi takes place during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. During this period of time African Americans did not have much say in society. Most African Americans acted as if they were deaf and blind puppets that had no reaction to anything that the White man said or did due to fear. Anne Moody, takes the reader through her personal journey, enduring extreme poverty growing up to joining the Civil Rights Movement where she found “something outside [herself] that gave [her] meaning to life” (Moody 286). As Moody grew up, she slowly began to realize some discrete difference between herself and Whites. Moody recalled a time when they did not have food and their mother brought them White

Moody described her economic status and states, “Often when Mama didn’t have enough money for food she would sneak out at night and take enough [food from Mrs. Cook] to last us a week” (Moody 33). The quote above opens a door of empathy toward Moody and her family and what circumstances her mother faced in order to feed the family. Food was a symbol in the autobiography to emphasize Moody’s struggles sleeping at night hungry, but continuing overcome obstacles to get a higher. Further along in the book Moody described how her mother “could not afford a loaf of bread” but instead would “buy ten pounds of flour” and make biscuits for their lunch (Moody 38). Sometimes Moody and her siblings would eat their biscuits in the morning. Moody’s sibling would come up to Moody saying they are hungry; Moody would tell them to “fill up on water” from the fountain (Moody 39). The economic disparities that Moody faced as a child later shaped her thoughts about various racial

Moody’s first time of hearing of the obstacles her race faced was with Emmett Till’s death. People in the community knew Emmett Till to be a soft spoken, respectful individual. Till’s death shook the Negro community and caused Moody to have a “new fear” be known to her which was “the fear of being killed just because [she] was black” (Moody 132). It was not until this event that Moody truly understood the implications she faced due to the color of her skin and her appearance. Furthermore, as the hate crimes towards African Americans began to rise across Centerville, Mississippi the African American community objections towards crimes began to die down. The African Americans in Centerville were so worried about being able to provide for their families that they began to forget about supporting one another. After Till’s death Moody expressed “resentment toward Negroes” because they are “cowards” for letting the Whites kill innocent individuals in the Negro community (Moody 136). Also was mad at herself and the African Americans “for not putting a stop to the killings or at least putting up a fight in an attempt to stop them” (Moody 202-203). Moody began to create generalization towards African Americans and how they are scared to speak up because they are “brainwashed” and “Mr. Charlie is giving them crumbs” (Moody 287 and 374). Mr.