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Anne Moody: Coming of Age in Mississippi
American History is filled with many troubling stories; untold and half-truths meant to keep the system in proper limits. However, one piece of American History that has haunted it to date, the period of slavery. Slavery is a trademark in American History even after emancipation. Institutions such as racism are still maintained to guarantee privilege and dominance of the white favoured to the detriment of other racial classes. In Anne Moody’s autobiography, “Coming of Age in Mississippi, the theme of racism is exemplified. Moody clarifies the disservices of growing up poor and dark and how racial segregation in the South escalated into hate, violence, extrajudicial killings and movements that aimed to speak up for the voiceless. The world taught Annie her place since she was a little girl, but it took her time to realize all the subtle signs, microaggressions and outright banishment from the white world. Annie had lived in fear of an “evil spirit” as per her mother’s narrative, but she grew to conceptualize what evil her mother was referring to fully. Therefore this essay explores the events in Annie’s life that made her realize the pre-existent racial constrictions.
Annie’s first realization that made her conscious about her skin colour as a child is an incident of a young fourteen-year-old boy who was murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. “Not only did I enter high school with a new name, but also with a completely new insight into the life of Negroes in Mississippi” (Moody 113) The boy, Emmet Till, was a young boy whose whistling would have been harmless. Moody admits to having previously wondered why many people of colour were often murdered ruthlessly, but no importance was attached to it. The killing brought her to the sudden realization that the white was protected by law and the people of colour had to survive the best way they knew now too. The reference to this incident was vital as it brought to light the remorselessness of racial persecution drew an unmistakable line on where it halted.
In addition to the killing, Moody was working for a white woman who knew all the racism chronicles by heart. She was cruel towards Moody. She knew her place as a master. Her mother warned moody against speaking of Emmet’s death in front of her employer. However, Mrs Burke had brought up the topic and addressed it nonchalantly. She blamed a fourteen-year-old for not knowing his place. (Moody 117) This was when she noticed the difference between black and white. This was when it dawned on her that the rights of African Americans were infringed, but they had no right to complain if at all, they had rights. Bigotry was set up back in the times of masters and servants. African Americans were treated as less than second class citizens. That day, Mrs Burke taught Moody a much-needed lesson during her time; She was black.
Another incident that sparked Moody’s feelings towards the civil rights movement was when her classmate Jerry was beaten up for allegedly calling a white operator and “threatening to molest her.” (Moody 124) The story had begun with the discovered affair between Bess who was African American and the deputy sheriff, a white man. The affair was true, and they had been caught red-handed. However, no action was taken since it involved a white man. However, this sparked suspicion of whether a white woman would have a black man on the side. This was an unrealistic chase that led to a young, innocent boy. This incident exemplified how matters concerning race were handled differently.
Moody had never thought anything of the colour of her skin; the rural South taught her that. The rural South implemented the “Jim Crow laws” (Shipp, 1985). Jim Crow laws were laws of segregation based on colour. Coloured, blacks and white had different privileges assigned to them. Colour was a membership card that had to be produced any time one needed health facilities, public transport and even the bathroom. Racial segregation in the South was intense. Moody’s story tells the story of many who grew up in the rural South and had to endure it all without anyone on their side.
Works Cited
Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1997.
Shipp, E.R. “ACROSS THE RURAL SOUTH, SEGREGATION AS USUAL (Published 1985)”. Nytimes.Com, 1975, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/27/us/across-the-rural-south-segregation-as-usual.html.