How Did Anne Moody Influence The Civil Rights Movement

Lunch sit ins, bus riots, song protests, blacks in “white only” areas. These are only a few of the methods that were practiced during the African American Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America in the fifties and sixties. It was a major movement in the country’s history, and it was brought about by people that were tired of tolerating the daily struggles and oppression caused by white supremacists and racists. Anne Moody was a brave and ambitious young woman, who struggled as an African American woman in the rural and conservative South. She pushed the boundaries that were governmentally set for blacks, and she was a remarkable civil rights activist, never letting anyone prevent her from doing something just because she was black. Often in her experiences people sang freedom songs, Anne and Malcolm X were outgoing a children, shaping their future in the Civil Rights

movement, but she believed in practicing more nonviolent methods like Martin Luther King Jr.
Anne Moody was born Essie Mae Moody on September 15, 1940. She was the oldest to a younger sister and four step siblings. As a fourth grader, she decides to start working to help support her family, she finds a part time job cleaning the houses owned by white families, which she continues to do until she graduates high school. Though she was born into a poor family, Anne was an exceptionally bright child, and her thoughts were much more mature than those of the people around her. She wondered how to break the limits and stereotypes put on her and other African Americans by whites. In the Summer of 1955, Emmett Till, a fourteen year old African American boy was lynched in Mississippi while visiting from Chicago, because it was believed that he was flirting with a white woman. This tragic event caused Anne to become particularly conscious of the racial prejudice occurring around her. His murder first spikes her curiosity about how to get African Americans out of this situation and improve their living conditions and circumstances. As she grows her mother and stepfather, Raymond, disagree with her interests in the civil rights movement because they are afraid that it is too dangerous for her and their family. She becomes irritated because of their suppression, so she takes off and decides to move in with her father, Diddly, and his wife, Emma, who, though they are light skinned, do not see themselves as above anyone.
Later, Anne receives a basketball scholarship to attend Natchez College.

At the very conservative Baptist College, she does not enjoy the basketball team or coach very much. When the coach decides to give her a worse punishment than she gives the other girls, Anne does not just take it in. Her personality shines in that she fights for better treatment, even between people of the same race. She gets the Dean involved, who then makes Miss Adams, the coach, treat them more fairly. Furthermore, at the college, Anne finds a job as a cook in the kitchen. In her second year, after she was fired, some students found maggots in their grits because Miss Harris failed to notify anyone that the showers were leaky and water was getting in the food. She then proceeds to start a boycott of the dining room food until the showers are fixed and Miss Harris is fired. She also conscious of and asserts to the Dean that she is only responsible for her actions and the willingness of other students to boycott alongside her. She is not afraid of pushing the limit and daring to fight for equality and what is

right.
In her junior year, she got accepted into Tougaloo with a full tuition scholarship. There she finally became involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The organization was to have a demonstration at the state fair in Jackson. They sent four picketers who were later arrested, but were to be bailed out later that evening. When the police cars finally arrived, students from around the campus surround the cars. The students were congratulated, all while the policemen were frightened of the encircling students. One student started singing freedom songs, for example “We shall Overcome,” and everyone else joined in. They then had a rally at the football field to get the people into a hyped up, excited, ready to fight, tired of the prejudice kind of mood. This event and the freedom songs that they sang really expressed the spirit that these students had. The freedom songs were very popular and were an effective way to get racists and supremacists scared of them. Diane Nash was an intrepid black college student and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader in Nashville, Tennessee. After hearing about violence in Birmingham involving Freedom Riders on whites only waiting rooms, Nash gathered some new riders. On May 17, 1961, Diane Nash and ten other students took a bus to Birmingham, which is where they were arrested. After being taken to jail, like the Tougaloo students the freedom riders began singing freedom songs. These included “ We’ll Never Turn Back,” “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” and “We Shall Overcome” (which was also sung by the Tougaloo students surrounding the policemen). They irritated the racist police chief on duty, Eugene “Bull” Connor, with their “joyous rebelliousness” to such an extent that “he drove them in the middle of the night to the Tennessee state line and dropped them off to walk.” These events show the power that these songs have and give to the civil rights activists.
Anne Moody was an intelligent child, and one who wanted to fight for her rights and not give in. She always questioned inequality, but never in a destructive manner. She did small things, things that people did not expect her to do, little events that when added together, majorly influence the pig picture. Malcolm X, however, was also a rebellious child, but in a different manner. After his father was killed, and his mother was institutionalized, he was placed in foster care, which often results in troublemakers. Malcolm X went against the norm, not following many rules that people set for him, but in the manner that he as sometimes uncontrollable. He became involved with a group of Black Muslims in Chicago called the Nation of Islam (NOI). Their leader called for black nationalism, racial pride, self respect, and self discipline. Along those line Malcolm became famous for attacking white racism and powerlessness. He disagreed with the nonviolent civil disobedience movement, which Anne Moody’s experiences were more similar to.
Anne Moody was involved in Natchez dining room boycott, and the Woolworth Lunch Counter sit in, two nonviolent methods of achieving what you want. Like Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Moody saw his preached tactic of nonviolent civil disobedience as a great way to create progress during the Civil Rights movement. Though progress might come slowly, it will come eventually, but if they use violence they only further the stereotypes that minorities are more violent. Anne Moody, Memphis, and Pearlena entered Woolworth’s Lunch Counter through the back and sat down in an area that was designated for white use only, while black were only allowed to stand. When one time did not work, they came back with even more supporters, until eventually Greensboro lifted the whites only policy in July of 1960.
Anne Moody was a bright child and grew up to be an exceptional person. One that would fight for the rights of her people. One that was not afraid of standing up for herself and others. She was a big influence on the future of the civil rights movement and the improvement of black rights. However, after being active in Coalition for the Organization of Racial Equality (CORE), and in the NAACP, she realized that the movement has not made great improvements in the daily live of African Americans. It focused too much on political things like voting registration, rather than economic issues like helping African American farmers to be able to afford and buy their own land.