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| Moody (front right, facing the camera) and her companions endure the abuse at the Woolworth's sit-in protest, Jackson, MS. |
Anne’s Moody’s memoir Coming
of Age in Mississippi is a powerful insight into the life of a young girl
growing up in the Deep South during the Civil-Rights Movement. Moody’s book
chronicles her coming of age as a woman, and perhaps more importantly, it
chronicles her coming of age as a politically active black woman. Her childhood
and early years in school set up a foundation for her racial awareness and her need
to be extraordinary. She built upon that foundation as she went to college and
sowed the seeds of political activism. During her later years in college, Moody
became active in a number of organizations dedicated to making changes to the
civil rights of her people. These events eventually led to her disillusionment
with the effectiveness of the movement despite her continued action.
One of
Moody’s first references to racial awareness occurred when she was four years
old. As a child, Moody’s family lived in a cabin on a plantation. Both of her
parents worked as field hands and were forced to leave Anne and her little
brother at home. One day Anne’s uncle, who was but a few years older than her,
was bitterly taking care of her. He attempted to scare her with fire and he
accidently lit the house on fire. The house all but burned to the ground. This
event had a devastating effect on the family. Anne’s father Diddly left for a
young fair-skinned mulatto woman named Florence. Anne noted her mother’s hatred
for the other woman in terms of race. She remembered the woman distastefully
described as “yellow,” followed by strings of colorful expletives (3-19).
This event points
out how early Moody’s unique perspective on race began to form. It is apparent
that Moody’s mother had strong feelings toward others who were not of the same
race as herself. Florence was of mixed race, and Anne’s mother saw her light
complexion as a sign, and perhaps a reason, for her negative qualities. Anne
remembers her mother’s use of racial labels despite her very young age. Though
at the time she was much too young to understand the real implications of these
thoughts and words, she remembered them. She was exceptional. Something inside
her told her this event was significant, and only later would she fill in the
gaps about why.
Anne’s
racial awareness t\was largely influenced by the events of the summer of 1955.
A young African American man named Emmett Till came to Mississippi from Chicago
to visit family. He stopped at a store to purchase some things, and on the way
out he allegedly winked and whistled at a white woman. As a result, a mob
pulled him from his home and brutally beat and lynched him. News of the events
spread across the country. This lynching had a massive influence on Moody.
Until this event, Moody had never really seen the dramatic disparity between
whites and blacks. She now feared for her life, and she understood that it was
simply because she was black-skinned (127-37).
Emmett
Till’s murder marked the beginning of Anne’s path toward activism. Anne’s new understanding
of the plight of black Americans, stemming largely from this single incident,
would act as a foundation for the rest of her ideology to build upon. Were it
not for a major event like this, Anne may not have developed some of her
powerful ideological changes as she grew older. Her more radical decisions,
made later in life, would not have been made without her strong ideology. Her
entire life would have been different, and many of the Civil-Rights-related
events she was involved in would have been different. Thus, Moody’s reaction to
this single event may have had a massive effect on many people.
In some
ways Anne’s coming of age as a teenage girl led to her coming of age racially.
As she entered high school, Anne began growing physically as fast as she did mentally.
She outgrew her skirts and was forced to wear jeans to school, which was
somewhat gauche according to the standards of the time. She continued to grow
and her jeans became rather tight, after which the boys began to pay her much
attention. As a result of her maturing physique, Anne’s popularity grew so much
that she was chosen as Homecoming Queen. Anne’s father got enough money
together to purchase her a beautiful gown to wear. Moody described this night
as the best of her life (200-21).
This event
that signified Moody’s move from girlhood to womanhood set the precedent for
her need to be racially exceptional. Moody loved to feel special and different.
Anne had a new found confidence after this event. She honestly believed that
she could do anything. Moody never showed much fear, even as a little girl, but
the reservations she did have as a girl largely disappeared after her
homecoming. She became more resolute and determined to do what she desired, and
that resolution would reveal itself during college and beyond.
During high
school Anne was heavily involved in the girls’ basketball team. She worked very
hard and became a star player. Her efforts on the court paralleled her efforts in
school. She maintained very high grades, and as a result of all her hard work
she received a scholarship to play basketball at Natchez College. Anne became
even more firm in her beliefs than before. When the students were eating their
grits for breakfast they found maggots in them. Moody attempted to go back into
the kitchen to talk to them about it when Miss Harris stopped her and told her
to sit back down. She refused, and told her it was her business because she too
had “to eat this shit!” Thus began
the students’ heated boycott, largely led my Moody (253-58).
The boycott
at Natchez was one of Moody’s first signs of political activism. Up to this
point in her memoir, Anne had been willing to stand up for her beliefs, but not
in a political way. In this instance Anne acted on the racial awareness by
understanding the need for equality and fairness to all, even to lowly
students. She was willing to stand up, rather powerfully, and defend her
rights. This small-scale political activism gave Moody a taste for the
movement, and may have been a major effect in her choice to join the movement a
short time later.
While at
school Anne decided that she would be content to live the life of an activist.
She wanted to try and make a difference in people’s lives, and she felt that
her race needed help more than anyone. After transferring to Tougaloo College,
she became involved with the SNCC, or Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,
and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The
SNCC was concerned with forming protests to desegregate public and private
establishments. With this group, Moody attended a sit-in at the Woolworths
Department store in Jackson, Mississippi. The Woolworths sit-in was one of the
most violently attacked sit-ins of the 1960s, and it received a lot of media
attention around the country. Anne and a group of other students simply went to
the lunch counter of the white establishment and sat down. Soon dozens of people
flooded into the store. Anne decided they should pray, and as they bowed their
heads a group of people rushed them. A number of men involved were badly
beaten, and the girls were beaten and harassed as well. Onlookers dumped
condiments and drinks all over them. After a few hours of torment the store
owner closed up shop and everyone was forced to leave. As Anne left the store,
she saw that ninety police officers were standing at the window watching the
entire thing (286-90).
Anne’s
experience at Woolworths made her hatred for segregation even stronger, and
because of her personality and experience, it gave her more motivation to fight
against it. Moody said she was absolutely sickened by the people of
Mississippi. They believed so strongly in segregation that they would humiliate
and physically beat people simply for asking to be served at a lunch counter.
They would literally kill to preserve their so-called balance. At this moment,
however, Anne’s perspective changed. The white people were sick, she decided.
They had a disease, and she felt that she could not hate a sickness. This
experience was the beginning of her disillusionment with the effectiveness of
the movement. What chance did they have against a sickness? How could they
fight a sickness that was in its terminal stage? Moody offers no answer
(290-91).
Moody
became fully involved in the Civil-Rights Movement. She was present at the
March on Washington when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a
Dream” speech. As she sat and listened to Dr. King speak, she realized that the
movement had no leaders, for their leaders were only dreamers. Back home in
Mississippi they had no time to sleep, let alone dream (333-36).
In this
passage Moody began to doubt the effectiveness of the current movement. This
was a passive movement, similar to that of India when Mahatma Gandhi led his
people to an effective passive revolution. Unfortunately, a passive movement
would not work in America’s Deep South. The movement, in Moody’s mind, was not
focused on the things that would make the biggest difference. They were focused
too much on voter registration and mock-elections. Moody thought the movement
would be much more effective if they did things to help bring about progress now.
They should do things like help black farmers buy their own land. That, to
Moody, would be a real, tangible change that would have a lasting effect.
Despite all this, she knew that she could never leave the movement, because
there was just too much work to do (333-37, 373-77).
Anne Moody
was remarkably racially aware. From a young age, Moody felt something different
about race relations than those around her. She developed into an intelligent,
strong-willed young woman with a desire to make changes to the racial landscape
in the South. For years she worked tirelessly to help bring about those
changes, but eventually she became disillusioned. She knew who she was, and she
knew that she needed to help make a difference, but she did not know if she
could. She closed her book with a bus ride to Washington, where the group would
try to sway Congress toward desegregation. The group began to sing We Shall Overcome. Moody thought to
herself this question: “I WONDER. I really WONDER.” (424)
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