Coming Of Age In Mississippi By Anne Moody

Anne Moody’s memoir Coming of Age in Mississippi, tells the story of Moody as a civil rights activist in the Jim Crow South. Growing up and spending much of her life in Mississippi, Moody grows thick skin to the horrors of being African American during the 1940s and the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s to 1960s. Although Moody supports numerous other Civil Rights activists, she develops a dynamic opinion that is shaped from her life experiences. Moody has a raw and realistic view on race relations that often gives her little hope that change will happen. She comes of age quickly as a driven, young lady. Although Moody is motivated to change the injustices between blacks and whites, Moody grows into an activist that often is pessimistic towards progression and

Although she is young, she can comprehend the financial state of her family and the instability they live with. Moody watches her father start gambling, pick up with a new woman and leave her mother, who she calls Mama. As a result, Moody’s family is left traveling to relatives, attempting to scrape up any work Mama can find. They eventually settle near Centreville, Mississippi. At this point in Moody’s growth, her African-American identity is not on her mind. Instead, she observes Mama’s strength in the face of poverty and crisis, even if she does not realize it at the time. She hears Mama crying constantly yet will attain Mama’s traits of resourcefulness later in her own life as she is faced with similar obstacles. Although Moody may not agree with Mama, Moody’s upbringing alongside her teaches her to live through hardship. On top of the adversity Moody and her family are faced with, Moody is confronted with her race. When Moody visits her grandmother, she sees two white looking boys, her grandmother’s children. She is utterly confused by their skin color and wonders why her uncles are white. When she asks Mama about it, she shuts down coldly. From this moment it is clear that Mama ignores and