Analysis Of Anne Moody's Coming Of Age In Mississippi

Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, is set in her home state of Mississippi. The novel tells Anne’s life story from the age of four to twenty-three. Born in 1940, Moody bore witness to some of the worst prejudice and violence towards African Americans. She grew up in a small, poverty stricken town in Wilkerson County. Moody and her siblings survived by her parents working on various plantations. Anne’s father soon left the family, and Moody’s mother, and eventually Anne herself, worked as housekeepers for different white families. Anne felt it was her responsibility to help her mother support her siblings. Working for white families, and living and attending college in the south during the Civil Rights Era, Anne witnessed first hand the prejudice and unfair treatment towards African Americans. It was not until 1955, when Emmett Till was murdered, that Anne gained an activist mindset. She dreamed of one day overthrowing such institutions that oppressed the blacks, and bringing change to the African American community for good. Anne’s family, mainly her mother, did not understand her …show more content…
Although she faced criticism from the attitudes of the older generation, including her mother, Anne remained focused. Anne decided to take part in the sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter, where she again witnessed the hatred and prejudice in Mississippi. Moody put herself in harm’s way for what she believed in, something her mother would have never done. Because she grew up with anger, Moody did not fear the same things her mother feared. Moody’s mother feared death at the hands of the whites, while Moody feared one day accepting oppression such as her mother had. By participating in the sit-in, and all of Moody’s activist activities in general, Moody resists the rules of white society and stands up against the oppression that her mother always seemed to fall victim