Kelly Nash
November 4, 2014
Professor Lindsey Cantwell
Anne Moody and her Journey Towards Equality The memoir, Coming of Age, written by author Anne Moody, was composed with the intention of exposing the racial discrimination and prejudice that Moody had experienced as she grew up on a plantation. Moody grew up as an African American girl who was introduced to racism at a young age, and this along with her gender, socioeconomic status, religion, and education level had a significant impact on her life and how she viewed society. Moody was an active member of a civil rights movement coordinator, after the lynching of Emmett Till. Till was convicted of talking to a white woman in a supermarket. Emmett was seen as a martyr for the civil rights movement, and Moody became very passionate about his case. Soon Moody noticed that there were several races that were discriminated against. Not only were whites against African Americans, but also lighter-skinned blacks were against darker-skinned blacks. Moody took it upon herself to try to change wrongs to rights. She attended college
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She noticed growing up that there was a divide between poor people and the rich. African Americans lived in small shacks that did not have electricity or indoor plumbing. However, the Carter’s, the family that Moody worked for, had both of these luxuries. Moody once said, “(Mama) would point out all the brightly lit rooms, saying that Old Lady Carter was baking tea cakes in the kitchen, Mrs. Carter was reading in the living room, the children were upstairs, and Mr. Carter was sitting up counting all the money he had made off Negroes.” Moody lived in an area that was in a state of extreme poverty. Moody had to work as a maid for white families in order to help her mother afford clothes and a roof over their head. This realization of inequality contributed to the hatred of whites that Moody had developed over