Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi - Essay Example

?Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi Anne Moody was an African American woman who is also the of the book en d Coming of Age in Mississippi. This publication clearly brought out how living in the rural area of Mississippi was quite a challenge according to the lifestyle of Moody. The book depicts the childhood era of Moody until when she was in her late 20s (Moody, 1992). In essence, the book describes Moody’s involvement in civil rights movements that began when she was at the Tougaloo College, as a student. This presents her struggles against sexism and racism among the whites in collaboration with her fellow activists in the civil rights movements. This article will explain how the grassroots, local civil rights movements differed from the mainstream movement. This paper will also include a comparative analysis of those involved, how they got involved, their organizational goals and their relation with the whites. This book consists of four main parts that mainly talk about Moody’s childhood, her high school education, autobiography and the pressure group. According to the first section of the book, Anne Moody explains how they were grounded into poverty as a family. At some point, she even worked as a domestic worker for some white families where she received an extremely low wage. Later on, her father abandoned them, rooting them to more problems mainly lingering on how she was to fend for her fellow siblings (Moody, 1992). In the second section, Moody focuses on her high school education period. She explains how a black 14 year old boy was lynched for whistling to a white woman. This clearly points out the racial codes that were present in Mississippi at that period. When Moody wanted to get more information about the murder of the boy she was totally shunned away from any information by the people she inquired. She even went forward to ask her mother the meaning of NACCP that stands for National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but, her mother warned her never to of such things in the vicinity of the whites. Finally, she discovered an adult who would be of assistance in helping her answer the questions she had in mind. Mrs. Rice stood out as her only hope in finding such information. She played a significant role in the maturity of Moody especially when she enhanced her with more knowledge concerning race relation in the Mississippi region (Moody, 1992). Later on, in the third section of the book Moody shows interest in political activism. Sources prove that Moody once organized a boycott of the cafeteria in the campus after a student found a maggot in one of the grit plates. Furthermore, she even joined the NAACP. To prove that Mississippi was quite racist, Moody explains an incident whereby she was with her friend named Rose. Rose went to the “Whites Only” section at the bus depot where suddenly the whites were genuinely shocked, and a mob had even surrounded them ready to assault them. However, just before the scenario was to take place, a black minister who was around rushed to their rescue (Moody, 1992). In the final section of the book, Moody now gets involved with civil rights movements in Mississippi. Moody narrates of her involvement in a sit-in at the renowned Woolworth’s lunch counter. She was in the company of her fellow civil right members. Afterwards, while still in the store, a group of white students from a neighboring high school bulged into the store and jeered at them. They were smeared with sugar, pies, ketchup and lots of other materials that were at the counter of the store for almost three hours (Moody, 1992). Lucky enough, the president of the college (Dr. Beittel) heard about the condition and quickly rushed to their safety. When he was there, he was truly shocked to notice that a group of over eighty police officers who were standing outside the store had just been watching the scenario without taking action against the mob (Moody, 1992). This incident further revealed to Moody how the racial lines had been drawn between the black and white societies. In addition, she also remarks on the impact of some of the planned assassination in America. Some of the most known world widely is the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Medgar Evers who were also against the civil rights movement. The above brief analysis of the book depicts how the whites were discriminative to the black society. The presentation of how the local rights movement differs from the mainstream movement is quite evident to the general individuals in the Mississippi. Moody; an activist featured in nonviolent civil rights which emerged from the black power ideologies. The mainstream movement was the Black Power Movement. Male chauvinism had taken over in this group; hence, Moody thought that her participation in the movements was cumbersome since only the men were given the crucial roles in Civil Rights Movement. The fact that the movement was overtaken by male chauvinism, Moody was resentful and did not agree as per the association’s terms because of her dream that entailed coupling the women rights from the non-violent Civil Rights Movements to the strength of the Black Power Association. Despite all these, Moody was not ready for any action since her work was not to be taken advantage of considering the amount of success that she employed in her movement. Moody set an exceptionally considerate example for women in Mississippi even though they still faced male chauvinism from the Black Power Movement (Henretta & Brody, 2010). She dealt with all the discrimination, bigotry and prejudice that came from the white society. With her involvement in organizations like SNCC, CORE and NACCP Moody was able to promote equal rights for the black society. In the whole of her life period, Moody learned how to cope with the uncompromising behavior from the whites. Moody who lacks an apology trace, remarkably shows how the racist society in Mississippi had affected most of the blacks. The local civil rights movements mainly involved her team who undoubtedly felt the urge to fight for equality among the different races in Mississippi. Their main goal encompasses the creation of equality between the different races in the Mississippi region. The civil rights movement tried to educate the society concerning the importance of racial equality and other related issues. This movement was received negatively by the whites who fired individuals, beat them or abused those who joined or voted for the civil rights movement. All these activities took place in the 1960s. On the other hand, the mainstream movement mostly entailed those in authority like the black ministers and the black government officials. They were also involved in matters regarding equality in race. Claims have been made that the Mississippians were much stronger before the French invasion but, nowadays they are fully overpowered by the whites (Henretta & Brody, 2010). This is the main factor that probed the intervention of the much influential Black Power Association which tried to reunite the citizens in America. They also faced their implications after they came up with this movement that included being fired from the governmental posts and replaced by the whites. In conclusion, we get to see that the students are mainly responsible for the revival of the slumbering movement as viewed from the case of Moody whereby he even arranged boycotts and other movements in regard to civil rights and racism factors. Based on the comparisons we are able to judge that even though both movements were aimed at reuniting the black with the white society by avoiding racism, the civil rights movement proved to be more efficient compared to the mainstream movement. In addition, the civil movement that was active during the 1960s was essential in providing the cutting edge in the movement. References Henretta, J. & Brody, D. (2010). America: A concise history. (4th ed.). College Park: Bedford and St. Martin’s Publishers. Moody, A. (1992). Coming of age in Mississippi. Mississippi: Dell Publishers. Read More