Segregation In Mississippi

Words: 1457
Pages: 6

Coming of Age in Mississippi is an autobiography written by Anne Moody herself, telling her story from early childhood up to adulthood. The book itself is split into four sections of her life which categorize where she is in her life during the events that occur, these sections are aptly names: Childhood, High school, College, and The Movement. This book graphically details a few of the events racism-induced events that occurred in the past, such as the death of Emmet Till, the sit in protest riots, and it evens on the murder of McKinley. Starting from childhood Moody shows us what her life started out like and what the norm was to her. Going into Middle School Moody demonstrated a steel resolve against people whom she clearly fears, such as …show more content…
These experiences would influence Moody’s thinking as well as her later involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Moody’s very first instance of segregation would have to be after she befriended a few white children living close to her as a child, later Moody and her family would go to the movies and the see the kids again, and attempt to follow them into their section, before she was stopped by her mother and immediately pulled outside, and after Moody got home she was warned by her mother that she couldn’t sit downstairs in the white area and they couldn’t do other things with them as well. This became Moody’s first interaction with Segregation, as she would later notice that the White area of the Movie theatre was much nicer than the balcony where the Negroes would sit. Then when she learns of the murder of Emmett Till she again faces the reality of how different you are treated because of your race and the real fear that comes with it, as she quotes “But now there was a new fear known to me – the fear of being killed just because I was black.” (Moody, Pg.132.) She again would see the true reality of her history when she would sit down Mrs. Rice and learn the full extent of history of discrimination against black people in the past, and Moody states that “I felt like the lowest animal on earth.” (Moody, Pg.135). These instances in her life would greatly influence her decision to join the Civil Rights Movement as well as how she is treated in the