Anne Moody

(2) Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968)

In the beginning I never really saw myself as a writer. I was first and foremost an activist in the civil rights movement in Mississippi. When I could no longer see that anything was being accomplished by our work there, I left and went North. I came back to see through my writing that no matter how hard we in the movement worked, nothing seemed to change; that we made a few visible little gains; yet at the root, things always remained the same; and that the movement was not in control of its destiny, nor did we have any means of gaining control of it. We were like an angry dog on a leash that had turned on its master. It could bark and howl and snap, and sometimes even bite, but the master was always in control. I realized that the universal fight for human rights, dignity, justice, equality, and freedom is not and should not be just the fight of the American Negro or the Indians or the Chicanos. It's the fight of every ethnic and racial minority, every suppressed and exploited person, everyone of the millions who daily suffer one or another of the indignities of the powerless and voiceless masses. And this trend of thinking is what finally brought about my involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, especially as it began to a splinter and get more narrowly nationalistic in its thinking.

Anne Moody (born September 15 1940) is an African American author who has written about her experiences growing up poor and black in rural Mississippi, and then joining the Civil Rights Movement, which fought racism against blacks in the United States beginning in the 1950s.

Born as Essie Mae Moody, she was the eldest of nine children of Fred and Elnire Moody. After her parents split up, she grew up with her mother in Centreville, Mississippi, while her father lived in nearby Woodville, Mississippi. At a young age she began working for whites in the area, cleaning their houses and helping their children with homework for only a few dollars a week. After graduating from a segregated, all black high school, she attended Natchez Junior College (also all black) in 1961 under a basketball scholarship. Then she moved on to Tougaloo College on an academic scholarship to get full degree. At Tougaloo she became involved with the Congress of Racial Equality, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. After graduating she became a full-time worker in the movement, participating in the Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in and the activity in Jackson, Mississippi. She later worked for CORE in the volatile town of Canton, Mississippi.

Anne Moody is a well-known contemporary black native Mississippian author. She has written biographial novels depicting life in Mississippi and the struggles of black people in the South. Many people can relate to her style of writing. Her novels help people understood what life was like in the South before and during the civil rights movement.

Anne Moody was born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi on September 15, 1940 to Fred and Elnire (Williams) Moody. She attended Natchez Junior College and completed her education at Tougaloo College. Moody married Austin Stratus and had one child named Sascha. In 1969, Anne's marriage ended in divorce.

Anne's popular autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi is set in her hometown of Centerville, Mississippi. Anne tells the story of her struggles and triumphs in this rural Mississippi town. She talks about racism from a child's perspective. Moody has never thought of herself as a writer, but rather as a civil rights activist. However, throughout Moody's life she has won many awards and honors for her literary accomplishments. Coming of Age in Mississippi received the Brotherhood Award from the National Council of Christians and Jews and the Best Book of the Year Award from the National Library Association, both in 1969. She also received the silver medal from Mademoiselle magazine for her short story "New Hopes for the Seventies." Moody's other works include Dial, 1969, and Mr. Death: Four Stories. Moody also has sound recordings of her novel Mr. Death and her short story "Bobo."

During Anne Moody's career she worked hard as a civil rights activist and worked for the Congress of Racial Equality. Anne spoke and participated in many civil rights activities like the famous Woolworth luncheon sit-in and the March on Washington ( when Dr. Martin Luther King made his famous "I had a dream" speech.). Reverend King and Anne Moody had a close professional relationship. Also in 1972, Moody was the artist in residence in Berlin, Germany. Anne worked at Cornell University later as a civil rights project coordinator. Moody now lives in New York where she continues to write and serve her community as a Counselor for New York City's poverty program. Today she remains a more private citizen and rarely does interviews. Moody's works have interested people throughout the world. University students, as well as high school students, have read these books as historical references because Moody's writing allows people to feel the time period. In addition, they interest people because her writing helps the reader visualize the events that occurred in the 50's and 60's.

While at Tougaloo College she worked with the NAACP, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), culminating in her personal involvement in the integration of Woolworth's lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi. Eventually Coming of Age also gives the reader an indication of the motivations for the author's turn toward militancy and her eventual move to New York City, where she now resides.

Moody herself has trouble with the identity of "writer": "In the beginning, I never really saw myself as a writer. I was first and foremost an activist in the civil rights movement in Mississippi. When I could no longer see that anything was being accomplished by our work there, I left and went North. I came to see through my writing that no matter how hard we in the Movement worked, nothing seemed to change; that we made a few visible little gains, yet at the root, things always remained the same; and that the Movement was not in control of its destiny Ð'-- nor did we have any means of controlling its destiny."

Still, Coming of Age in Mississippi remains a classic in the literature of the civil rights movement. It has been consistently anthologized, and on its publication Sen. Edward Kennedy wrote "Anne Moody's powerful and moving book is a timely reminder that we cannot now relax in the struggle for sound justice in America." Moody has won awards or been