Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi Essay

Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi - Essay Example . 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 sectio n 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 â€Å"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 sc hool 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