Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody Essay - 1223 Words

Anne Moodys Coming of Age in Mississippi is a narrated autobiography depicting what it was like to grow up in the South as a poor African American female. Her autobiography takes us through her life journey beginning with her at the age of four all the way through to her adult years and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. The book is divided into four periods: Childhood, High School, College and The Movement. Each of these periods represents the process by which she came of age with each stage and its experiences having an effect on her enlightenment. She illustrates how important the Civil Rights Movement was by detailing the economic, social, and racial injustices against African Americans she experienced. Moodys†¦show more content†¦Before this, Moody was under the impression that Evil Spirits were to blame for the mysterious deaths of African Americans, Up until his death, I had heard of Negroes found floating in a river or dead somewhere with their bodies riddled with bullets . . . When I asked her (Mama) who killed the man and why, she said, ‘An Evil Spirit killed him. You gotta be a good girl or will kill you too. So since I was seven, I had lived in fear of that ‘Evil Spirit. She became very upset and feared being killed just because I was black. This was the worst of my fears. Moody eventually comes to learn about the NAACP and what they stood for, that this organization is trying to help improve the situation for African Americans like her. Unfortunately, when she tried to ask her mother about this she does not get any answers. Instead, her mother gets upset with her and asks her to never mention it around any white person. Moody felt frustrated that all these years that she had been sheltered from the truth and she felt dumb for never having opened her eyes to all the horror. Anne Moody joined her first NAACP chapter while attending one of the best African American colleges in the state, Tugaloo College. Sh e became so engrossed in the movement that her grades began to drop. This did not seem to bother her much, though, for she finally started to feel thatShow MoreRelatedAnne Moody Coming Of Age In Mississippi1626 Words   |  7 PagesAnne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, depicts the various stages of her life from childhood, to high school, then to college, and ends with her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. In the novel, Anne tells the reader her story through events, conversations, and emotional struggles. The reader can interpret various elements of cultural knowledge that Anne Moody learned from her family and community as a child. Her understanding of the culture and race relations of the timeRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody1388 Words   |  6 PagesIn the autobiography â€Å"Coming of age in Mississippi† by Anne Moody known as Essie Mae in the book she writes in great detail the struggles her and other p eople of her color had to go through in order to gain their rights. From such a young age she saw the differences in the way people of color were treated in comparison to whites, things that no one should go through much less a kid. From the beginning you see that Essie Mae is such a brilliant kid and all the trials she goes through and the knowledgeRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody964 Words   |  4 PagesThe book â€Å"Coming of Age in Mississippi† By Anne Moody is an autobiography and talks about the lifestyle of growing up as a Negro in the rural south during horrid times for blacks. Moody was born on September 15, 1940 and died just last year on February 5, 2015. Moody starts her story from the beginning of child hood living with her mother and siblings. She was a brilliant student and also had the motivation for doing her best, but the barriers that blocked her simply seemed impossible to pass, sheRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi, By Anne Moody1554 Words   |  7 Pagesthrough the heart of the nation and only got worse the more south you go. In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, Moody’s life is told through her eyes. It goes through her childhood until her participation in the Civil Rights movement. One of the major parts in the book is her slowly realizing the racial divide in America and the disadvantages that her skin color had come with. All the racism Moody experienced as a child until she was an adolescent led to her decision to becomeRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody Essay1368 Words   |  6 PagesComing of Age in Mississippi In the novel, Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody, she talks about her childhood and the hardships she faced due to discrimination and racism. She provides different instances and examples of the different obstacles she faced. With all these various examples, I believe it helped shape her into the figure she later became in the novel and the person she turned into. It helped shape her beliefs and thoughts on society that she never realized as a child, but asRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody1214 Words   |  5 Pagescontinues to plague us today. In Anne Moody s book, Coming of Age in Mississippi she depicts how life was growing up in the south through her eyes. The constant discrimination and abuse that many African American minorities faced was something she grew up with. As she grows up and takes part of many organizations to fight for equality, Moody manages to gather valuable experiences and wonders if the issue of racism is something that will truly be conquered. Anne grew up with her mother, fatherRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody1383 Words   |  6 Pages Coming of age in Mississippi by Anne Moody tells the story of her life as a poor African American growing up in America in the midst of racism and poverty. When Anne Moody was four years old Anne and her little brother had to be left at home while her parents worked in the fields. They were babysat by their uncle who was mean to them and regularly beat her up. In an attempt to scare her he accidentally burned down their house, blaming it on Anne. This event had a tremendous effect on the familyRead MoreComing of Age in Mississippi- Anne Moody797 Words   |  4 PagesAnne Moody learned about the importance of race early in her life. Having been born and raised in an impoverished black family from the South, she experienced first-hand the disparity in the lives of Whites and Blacks. The story begins with Anne as a four-year-old child watching her parents work everyday for Mr. Carter, a white plantation owner. She witnessed several black farmers living in rotten, two-room wooden shacks. It was most likely evident to her, even at that early age, that WhitesRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody1206 Words   |  5 PagesAnne Moody’s, â€Å"Coming of Age in Mississippi† is an autobiography of hers that depicts the time of injustice, racial discrimination, oppression and the hardships African Americans dealt with during this time of inequality and how it led to Civil Rights Movement. Anne Moody’s overall life experience since her young age of 4, till her age of 24 of the movement, greatly shows the struggles of the time with uses on her emotional experiences and her analyzing skills of her time which did not fail to catchRead MoreComing Of Age Throughout Mississippi By Anne Moody1362 Words   |  6 Pages Coming of Age in Mississippi Essay Fredric Stanley HIST 3881 Professor James Conway 7 November 2015 â€Æ' Though we Americans, in all of our efforts, feel as if the day of racism is coming to an end, I feel it is merely evolving into a much more subtle approach. Seeing life through the words of Anne Moody in her book entitled, Coming of Age in Mississippi, shows that racism, even back then, is treated with remedies versus a cure. After the many anti-discrimination legislations passed as well as