Coming Of Age In Mississippi By Anne Moody

Anne Moody’s autobiography “Coming of Age in Mississippi” describes different sections of her life stretching from childhood to a student in college. From the time she was four years old, she experienced racism and discrimination. She thrived through these situations and allowed it to mold her into the civil rights activist that she became. Childhood, High School, College, and The Movement all contain vital events in Moody’s life.

Anne Moody, despite going to school, and doing exceptionally well in her academics, had to work to help support her family. TooSweet, Anne’s mother, worked as a waitress but still did not bring enough home to feed the family but for a few pieces of bread and some beans. In the fourth-grade, Anne began to clean for

One of the ladies is Mrs. Burke, who, after persuading one of Anne’s other clients to pay her less, accuses Anne’s brother Junior of stealing. Mrs. Burke is particularly nasty to Anne, and it is one of Anne’s first experiences of racism from a person she knows. The main turning point of not only Anne’s high school phase, but of her entire life, and many other black men and women, is the killing of Emmett Till. The first time Anne came across the five lettered organization, the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was said in association with Emmett Till’s murder. This altered Anne’s view of the world, of the color of her skin as well as the lighter skinned women that she worked for, it changed the way she lived. She faces many mental dilemmas while this incident weighs down on her. She begins to constantly ask herself what the difference between white and black people are. This boosts her want to join the NAACP, which leads into the college phase of her

TooSweet and the family constantly beg Anne to keep quiet, and not to stir the pot in fear of trouble for her and themselves. Anne finally moves from home to live with Diddly, her father, and begins college at Natchez College, she outshone her basketball team, which she got a scholarship for, and was getting straight A’s. She wanted a more challenging school, and found that L.S.U. had become intergrated, but “I was afraid those white students would murder me in class” she mentioned. After waiting for too long, Anne missed the deadline for the schools in New Orleans, and sent Tougaloo the $15 dollar fee for room and registration. It was here that Anne finally joined the NAACP. It is also here that she attends the sit-in at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s. A group of African-Americans began sit-in demonstrations that are a type of protest. This group included multiple activities, but the main point of it were to sit in a white only restaurant or section of a restaurant and sit at the tables or the bars. They would sit there, and wait to be served, if not served, then they would sit there until forced to move, whether by police or other means. They would not raise their hands to anyone that moved them, for the whole point of this sit-in was to remain peaceful and nonviolent. “A little bit of everything was tried. Some Negroes sat-in, some picketed, and some squatted in the streets and refused to move. All of the