Reviews

Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

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miareneecole's review against another edition

5.0

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Read

I was left absolutely in awe by the powerful words of Anne Moody. The way she told her life's story; it almost felt unreal, fictional. She emerges as an inspiration for all young women and minorities alike in America. This novel truly opens one's eyes to the inequalities and injustices forced on African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement and early to mid-twentieth century. I believe this book is something everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. I know that I'll be picking it up to read again.

juliedaffodilly's review against another edition

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5.0

Heartfelt, gutwrenching, and eye opening. An important bio on part of America's dark history. Be prepared for difficult passages because this book delves deep into Moody's experiences. Beautiful work.

ablotial's review

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3.0

This is the autobiographical account of Anne Moody, a civil rights activist. The book begins in her earliest childhood when she was 4 or 5 and living in what amounted to a shack with her mother, father and two younger siblings. To be honest, I believe most of the first third of this book could have been deleted and replaced with a much shorter section with little ill effect. Mainly I believe it was just included so that the reader could get a sense of just HOW poor her family was and how much better off the white people in the area were. Some of the conditions she mentions are really eye opening. But much of this first section is just talking about family relations, who is related to who and how, and explaining how her father came to leave the family.

Anne gets her first introduction to the civil rights movement when she is in her early teens, when she overhears a conversation at the white home in which she is employed. Her mother and step father refuse to explain any of it to her when she asks, and begin to treat her poorly when she continues to ask questions and be curious. A teacher eventually explains it to her (but tells her never to tell anyone where she learned it!) and thus begins Anne's lifelong role in the civil rights movement.

We follow Anne into adulthood - her first job, her first trip away from home to visit relatives in another city, her first introduction to homosexuality and crossdressing, and lots and lots of discrimination. Her relations with her family disintegrate because they are afraid the white people will come after them for interacting with Anne. But her educational and professional life blossoms. She became involved with NAACP and other civil rights organizations while at the university and participated in sit-ins and other protests, and traveled to Washington, DC for the protest in the car of a white friend, which caused them some problems on the road and really limited where they were allowed to stay.

Overall, it was an interesting account of life in the south for a young black female in the 1960s. One thing that I found really interesting is that she was always telling in the book how much things cost and how much she was paid for each job. The amounts are astonishing! A $3 dress was so expensive and basically broke the bank! Hard to imagine such a time.