Coming of Age in Mississippi. Coming of Age in Mississippi is a 1. Anne Moody about growing up in rural Mississippi in the mid 2. African American woman. Coming Of Age In Mississippi By Anne Moody AudiobookNotforprofit publishing house with titles on educational, cultural, ethnic, and community subjects. After months of not so subtly implying that he was ready to be done playing the worlds most iconic spy, Daniel Craig has finally confirmed that he will, in fact. The book covers Moodys life from childhood, through her mid twenties, including her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, which began when she was a student at the historically black Tougaloo College. Annes autobiography details her struggles both against racism among white people and sexism among her fellow civil rights activists. Coming of Age in Mississippi, along with many positive reviews from The Chicago Tribune and others, won awards from the National Library Association and the National Council of Christians and Jews. 1Supremely involving written with stripped simplicity not a single false high note. Kirkus Reviews 2About the authoreditAnne Moody, born Essie Mae Moody, was born September 1. Centreville, Mississippi. The daughter of two poor sharecroppers and the eldest of many, Anne took on a great responsibility at a young age and matured quickly. After graduating high school in 1. Anne received a basketball scholarship to Natchez Junior College and later transferred to Tougaloo College. Moody became involved early in the Civil Rights Movement, helping organize the Congress of Racial Equality CORE and participating in the Woolworths sit in on May 2. After graduation from Tougaloo College, Moody moved to Ithaca, New York, where she became a project coordinator for Cornell University until 1. She moved to New York City once she left Cornell, and she began writing Coming of Age in Mississippi, which was published in 1. She was married to an Austin Straus with whom she had one son, Sascha Straus. After struggling with dementia for years, she died at her home in Gloster, Mississippi, on February 5, 2. Structure and contenteditComing of Age in Mississippi is divided into four sections Childhood, High School, College, and The Movement. Part One ChildhoodeditMoody begins her story on the plantation where she lives with her mother, Toosweet, and her father, Diddly, both sharecroppers, and her younger sister, Adline. Later, Moodys mother gives birth to her third child, Jr. While Toosweet is pregnant with Jr., her father begins an affair with another woman from the plantation. Shortly after Jr. s birth, her parents separate. Moody moves with her mother and younger siblings to town to live with her great aunt and begins grade school. Annes curiosity about race is sparked when her questions about her two uncles, who appear white, go unanswered. Moodys mother begins a relationship with a man named Raymond, whom she eventually marries and has five more children with by the time Anne is in college. At nine years old, Moody begins her first job sweeping a porch, earning seventy five cents a week and two gallons of milk. She experiences her first real competition with Raymonds sister Darlene theyre the same age and in the same class, constantly competing against one another whenever possible. Though Moody enjoys attending Centreville church, which Raymonds family belongs to, she is tricked into joining her mothers church Mt. Pleasant. She resents her mother for some time after that. Once the family farm falls through, Moody takes on more responsibility to help support the family. When asked to obtain a copy of her birth certificate for graduation, her birth certificate shows up as Annie Mae. When Toosweet requests to have it changed, she is told there would be a fee Essie Mae asks if she can keep Annie, and so she becomes Annie Mae Moody. Part Two High SchooleditAnnes political awakenings begin during her teenage years, and Moody chronicles those years in the books second section, High School. During her first year in high school, Emmett Till, an innocent 1. Mississippi from Chicago, is tortured and murdered for allegedly whistling in a flirtatious and offensive manner at a white woman. His murder is a defining moment in Moodys life. When Anne asks her mother questions about why the boy was killed and by whom, she is told, an Evil Spirit killed him and that it would take eight years to learn what that spirit was. 4 For the first time, she realizes the extent to which many whites in Mississippi will go to protect their way of life white supremacy and the appalling powerlessness of the blacks what most whites considered savages. When she asks her mother for the meaning of NAACP referring to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, after hearing it from Mrs. Burke the white woman she works for, her mother tells her never to mention that word in front of any white person, and if possible, not at all. Shortly thereafter, Moody discovers that there is one adult in her life who could offer her the answers she seeks Mrs. Rice, her homeroom teacher. Mrs. Rice plays a pivotal role in Moodys maturation. She not only answers Moodys questions about Emmett Till and the NAACP, but she volunteers a great deal more information about the state of race relations in Mississippi. Moodys early curiosity about the NAACP resurfaces later when she attends Tougaloo College. It is during this time, at fifteen years old, that Anne makes the claim that she began to hate white people. She also moves to Baton Rouge that same summer. While in Baton Rouge Anne learns some tough lessons when she is ripped off by a white family for two weeks pay, and when she is betrayed by a co worker which resulted in her losing her job. Working for Mrs. Burke was something Anne viewed as a challenge one that she overcame when she quit after Mrs. Burke wrongfully accused her younger brother, Jr. When Anne returned to New Orleans the following summer she worked as a waitress and was able to save money for college. Anne graduated high school in the summer of 1. New Orleans, for good. Part Three CollegeeditThe third section of the autobiography reveals Moodys increasing commitment to political activism. Towards the end of the summer, after graduation, Anne received a letter from the head coach at Natchez Junior College she had received a basketball scholarship. Attending Natchez felt very restricted to Anne and at the end of the year she was unsure is she would return, however because of the cost of the schools in New Orleans, she returned to Natchez in the fall. During her second year at Natchez College, she helps organize a successful boycott of the campus cafeteria when a student finds a maggot in her plate of grits. This is Moodys first experience in organizing a group of individuals to launch a structured revolt against the practices of an established institution. While waiting for their demands to be met, Anne offers up what little money she has to help buy food for her fellow students. Just before the end of her sophomore year at Natchez, given the opportunity to test for an academic scholarship to Tougaloo College, Anne was successful and received an academic scholarship. When Annes roommate Trotter encourages her to join the NAACP, who she is the secretary for, Anne promises she will attend the next meeting despite the animosity and violence that had surrounded everything she knew about the group. Some Tougaloo students were jailed after a demonstration, and when they were brought back to campus Medgar Evers accompanied them to get some of Tougaloos spirit and try and spread it around all over Jackson. 5 Though Annes grades suffered, she could not pull herself away from the movement. A fellow white student, Joan Trumpuer, now Joan Trumpauer Mulholland a secretary for SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, moved across the hall from Anne and invited her to help canvas for the voter registration they had planned on having in the Delta. While a junior at Tougaloo College she joins the NAACP. The third section ends with Moodys recounting of a terrifying ordeal in Jackson, Mississippi. On a shopping trip there with Rose, a fellow student from Tougaloo College, Moody without any planning or support mechanism in place decides to go into the Whites Only section of the Trailways bus depot. Initially the whites in the waiting area react with shock, but soon a menacing white mob gathers around the two young women and threatens violence. Part Four The MovementeditThe fourth and final section, documents Moodys full scale involvement in the struggle for civil rights.
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