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In her memoir “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” Anne Moody shares the struggles she experienced growing up as a young African American woman in the south, an environment charged with extreme prejudice. Moody’s youth coincided with the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, the culmination of a century worth of racial tensions following the abolition of slavery. As the oldest child in an impoverished African American family living in Mississippi, Moody grew increasingly combative towards these racial tensions as she attempted to understand her role in an American society of increasingly divergent ideals. Indeed, America was becoming a land of two faces. Centreville, the rural town known for its insurmountable prejudices that Moody grew up in, is a stark contrast to the more progressive Jackson, where Moody fought to assert her freedom as an African American. Jackson, and her ties to the Civil rights movement via organizations such as the NAACP, was Moody’s answer to her frustrations and anxieties that were induced by African American complacency to the white supremacy and brutality she grew to accept in Centreville. Through her story, Moody portrays complacent African Americans as African Americans still bound to their masters. In a society, in which every institution, including the government, acts with the aim of keeping African Americans in a state of perpetual oppression, the oppressed must galvanize their efforts and numbers and stand in solidarity.
In the portrayal of her youth in Centreville, Anne Moody depicts a childhood wrought with perpetual fear of the white man’s wrath. This always-present fear manifests itself within the African American community as an unquenchable desire to insure that personal interests and needs are satisfied before those of their neighbors. Within Anne Moody’s life, and the pages of “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” examples abound in which an African American forsakes his peers in order to ensure economic advantage or advantage within the white community. Indeed, throughout Moody’s memoir, she speaks of her African American brothers and sisters who have embraced an Uncle Tom role, with all its perks and securities included. In a novel filled with complex relationships, Moody introduces a character intended to represent the prevalence of Uncle Toms and dangers they inflict. Principle Willis, Moody’s own high school principle, received a payment of $500 dollars for his involvement in the murder of a Samuel O’Quinn, a young man who attempted to organize a NAACP chapter in Centreville. Before his untimely demise, O’Quinn found very few people who wished to risk involvement in an organization such as the NAACP and even fewer that he could trust. In the south, Uncle Tom figures, such as Principle Willis, were ubiquitous as their role served a keen interest for the Southern white population: the perpetuation of control over the African American population from all possible angles. While the prevalence of Uncle Tom’s surely benefited those who played the role as well as the white population, their existence left the African American community deeply fragmented.
Fragmentation within African American society made it impossible to combat injustices. Uncle Toms, a group, which held great power certainly diminished the effectiveness of the civil rights movements, creating deep resentments and distrust within the African American community. However, the seemingly unchangeable conditions in the south were also a direct result of African American fear of the white man. In Centreville and other rural towns in the south, African Americans lived a life of subservience in which they ignored both the brutal attacks on their neighbors as a fact of life and the organizations that were designed to raise them from their sunken level of oppression. As Anne Moody grew into adulthood she began to question the violence and injustice she saw around her. However, her inquiries were constantly discouraged and subverted. The dialogue between Moody and her mother throughout the memoir epitomizes African American resistance to change. When Moody questioned her Mother, Twosweet, on the murder and brutality that surrounded her, her mother diverted the questions with silence or anger. Moody’s questions concerning the NAACP were met with the same response. Twosweet’s response is logical as the mere mention of the NAACP or injustice at the hands of whites was a dangerous subject. Initially Moody accepted her mother’s secrets; however, her anxieties grew with the list of the dead and she quickly became frustrated with the lack of action within the African American Community. The Murder of Emmett Till, a northern African American boy who was slain for whistling at a white woman, prompted no action from the African American community other than quiet disgust and fear. However, shortly after the Emmett Till’s death the white population of Centreville began organizing guild meetings in response to a perceived rise in crimes such as Till’s and the NAACP. As the organization of Guild meetings and the murder’s of Samuel O’Quinn and Emmett Till illustrate, white Americans were quickly able to galvanize forces in response to African American misbehavior and preserve a segregated society to the point of murder.
Solidarity in terms of a shared goal and the enactment of that goal is what was missing from African American society if any degree of liberation was to be achieved. As African Americans quietly and individually accepted their fait, white society acted in synchronized organization with the institutions of America behind them. In Centreville it became blatantly obvious to Moody that the sheriffs department, and organization designed to protect and serve, protected and served white interests. Indeed, Sheriff Cassidy was involved in a conspiracy to inflict a brutal attack on one of Moody’s classmates named Jerry. Rogue cops followed Moody to Jackson as well, where they used excessive force and questionable measures to undermine and discourage black protest. However, law enforcement was not the only arena that utilized their power to propagate white supremacy. The Media also created false images of equality and police passivity. The newspapers were involved in direct sabotage towards the liberation movement with their portrayal of a schism amongst the movement’s leadership. These tactics were extremely effective and numerous, with their instigators present in all levels of society including the federal government. As black resistance increased these tactics became more numerous and Moody began to feel the consequences more directly. The federal government role became more apparent to Moody, as she says, “ The more I thought about it, the more it seemed that the federal government was directly or indirectly responsible for most of the segregation, discrimination, and poverty in the South” (315). Through their control and division of crop allotments in the rural south, the federal government had the power to keep African Americans in poverty, a power that they liberally acted upon.
The unison of law enforcement, the media and fundamentally the federal government in the perpetual subjugation of African Americans was a force that the subjugated could not counter individually. Economically paralyzed due to the acts of the Federal government and living in constant fear of brutality, galvanization efforts, a method which white Americans successfully employed for their aims, was the only way to counter attacks from all levels of society. The NAACP, an organization that worked to advance African American rights, created an avenue for Americans of all races to join together in protest. In solidarity, members of the NAACP worked together to advance their aims, giving members the courage and numbers to actually achieve their aims. Many African Americans, especially those in rural areas refused involvement in organizations such as the NAACP due to fear of brutality and job loose. Moody herself was apprehensive prior to joining; however, Moody’s own story illustrates the power of solidarity in conquering fear and actualizing goals. Even prior to her involvement in the NAACP, Moody found that the development of relationships gave her courage to stand up for herself. In her strike of the Nazareth cafeteria in her second year of college, Moody spearheaded a successful renovation of dinning hall procedures with the help of her fellow students. Together the group attained change; however, when the group became fragmented and some students resumed eating at the cafeteria her ultimate aim of the dismissal of Miss. Harris, the matron of the cafeteria,) became impossible. The same model of success through group solidarity and failure through fragmentation can be seen in Moody’s involvement with the NAACP, SNCC and CORE organizations. In these organizations, members quickly bonded sharing stories and deep resentments of the prejudice they faced in their youth. Members were also exposed to workshops where they could learn from each other and introduced to successful African Americans, a source of inspiration and motivation. These groups united members together and in action. Involvement in these organizations linked members with a purpose, Moody explains, “That summer I could feel myself beginning to change. For the first time I began to think something would be done about whites killing, beating, and misusing Negroes. I knew I was going to be a part of whatever happened” (278). SNCC left Moody feeling purposeful, powerful and capable of changing conditions. However, the ability of these organizations to achieve their goals and leave members feeling as Moody did was directly tied to the amount of recruits committed to the cause. Alone or with only a few others, as Moody was when she sat in the white section of a train station, protest is entirely ineffective. On the other hand, when NAACP and SNCC were able to organize vast demonstrations, such as the NAACP protest at the state fair in Jackson, they left whites fearful. Moody elaborates, “In Jackson there had been one point when I could see white folks actually tremble with fear. At times when we were having mass demonstrations we had them so confused they didn’t know what to do. Whenever I could detect the least amount of fear in any Mississippian, I felt good. I also felt there was a chance of winning the battle regardless of how costly it turned out to be” (314). The fear the protestors induce from their devotion and their vast numbers is the only power they have against whites, which control all other American institutions.
Although she did not realize it till much late in life, Anne Moody grew up in a society and under a government dominated by white Americans with the aim of continuing white supremacy. Her memoir “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” is a gateway into the life of a young girl living under these impressive transitioning into a young woman who learns how to combat these oppressive forces. Through her youth living amongst a subservient non-combative black population and her involvement with politically and racially charged civil rights groups such as the NAACP, Moody presents the fight for equality under a government oppressive in all of its institution only possible through the galvanization of efforts and the solidarity of the oppressed.