An Analysis Of Anne Moody's Coming Of Age In Mississippi

Anne Moody’s narrative in the book “Coming of age in Mississippi” is her firsthand accounts with the prejudices she face in her time. Being a black woman the most noticeable one she faced was racism which shaped her into the political and social activist which we know of today. She sheds light upon the dangers of prejudices and not only white on black prejudice but many more that she experienced in her life.

Anne Moody was exposed to racial prejudice very early into her life. Anne at the very young age of 4 notices the disparity between the white family and the black families. She notices how the shacks in which the black families reside have no plumbing or electricity while the white family has access to such basic utilities. As she grows older she begins to notice the disparity more and more as her and her family scrape by on white families left overs or even stealing crops from the farms. She becomes ever more confused as she ages by

these separate standards set by something as arbitrary as skin color. Anne’s child hood is filled with discrimination based on skin color and not only between black and white, but between different shades of black skin as well. Anne Moody’s interactions with her racist boss Mrs. Burke truly made Anne think about race and question what makes whites deserve better treatment than blacks. She angered Mrs. Burke by not being in opposition to segregation, this would be her first time openly expressing her dislike of racism which was her first steps toward wanting to stand up against racism. The murder of Emmet Till greatly affected Anne’s life as his death cements her hatred and fear of racism. Emmet Tills death also sets her on the path to her future work with the NAACP as she began to truly want to do something about the unjust and unequal treatment of black in America.
As Anne gets older she decides to join the NAACP while away at college. Anne’s joining into the organization leads to her experience the worst of what racism has to offer. She would do demonstrations at diners where she and her comrades would sit at the whites only sections. While doing these demonstrations her and her peers were subjected to harassment and violence at the hands of the racist. They would have food thrown at them, rocks, sticks and whatever else can be used as a weapon. While she gets away fairly unharmed from these events her comrades weren’t as lucky as they had been bloodied by the violence. She soon garners the attention of the Ku Klux Klan who would like to see her dead for her activism. One day she and her peers would be forced to hide in the grass behind their house since the KKK seemed to be trying to hunt them down and had evened approached their house with weapons. Her experiences with prejudice begin to have an effect on her as she soon begins to develop prejudices of her own.
Anne’s experience’s with the cruelty of whites, the snootiness of “yellows” and what she felt was the lack of activism by blacks soon began to have an effect on her.

Anne begins to distrust and dislike white people as she felt they were all racists. She begins to avoid people who were mixed or “Yellow” because she thought they were all snobs who felt they were superior. Anne’s prejudices are challenged when she leaves to college and meets “Yellows” who are not rich snobs but kind and accepting. She was considering not going to Tugaloo because she felt it be filled with nothing but rich yellows and racist white teachers. She had assumed simply because teachers were right they would be racist and that because someone was yellow they would by snobs. When Anne becomes more involved with the NAACP and CORE she begins to meet whites who believe and fight for the same values as her such as the reverend. Her previous hypocritical beliefs of hating racism yet still having her own prejudices against other people due to their skin

color.
Anne Moody’s story was one filled with perseverance and strength as she combated against the racist laws and institutions of her time. Her Autobiographical account of her life also showed the dangers of prejudice as she showed how even she fell victim to racist feelings against whites and those who were lighter than her. At the end of her story she question whether or not her and her comrades would ever win the fight against racism. Today we know that her and her peers were greatly successfully in achieving their goals with the removal of Jim Crow laws and the equal treatment of all races under the law.