Coming onge in Mississippi is a memoir written by Anne Moody, the book spans from the story other early life in 19405 to her mid-life in the 19605 during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. This time period was synonymous with discriminative, racist, and bigoted ideals being perpetuated throughout America, primarily the South. This was before and during the period blacks had received their full civil rights, and blacks were still being discriminated by both other race groups as well as their own race. Moody‘s autobiography was an accurate, as well as inaccurate, representation of how life in the South was before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. Before the Civil Rights Movement took off, the world was coming off of a huge World War which saw racial tensions being heavily discussed. The world saw blacks represent America’s military force as a stapled face overseas.
This slight movement in the right direction also showed blacks as an oppressed group in the United States on a worldwide platform. This reveal to the world was one of the birthing of some of the early rumblings of the Civil Rights Movement, primarily the Double V Campaign. This campaign aimed to make freedom, justice, and equality a recognized ideal, not only abroad but in the United States, This campaign was the inception of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Moody‘s life painted discrimination pontificated throughout the South by not only other Whites but by other black men and women. As a woman, you were made privy to more than just race discrimination, but gender discrimination. The problem with this is that gender discrimination was more likely to be done by other black women or men instead of the assumption that whites were likely to be responsible.
On one side you were treated differently by white women because you were a black woman, something Viewed as taboo by white men which invoked jealousy and envy, and therefore frowned upon by white women. While on the other side black women would treat you differently if anyone showed you favoritism. Anne Moody‘s experiences could only depict the struggle of the black woman in the South, but not of the men. The depiction of the struggle for the average Black male in the South was missed. Black men were ridiculed and treated worse in the South than a woman. As a black male, you ran the risk and scare of being demoralized, harassed, or lynched. With tensions so high in the South, you ran the risk of being targeted with any socially outlandish remarks or actions. Moody was an out-of-the-ordinary woman and thus was part of an experienced a multitude of abnormal things for a black woman in the South. Moody was able to gain a basketball scholarship, which exposed her to the NAACP and their pursuit for equality through the Civil Rights Movement.
Her involvement with the NAACP leads her to be inspired by the atrocity of Emmet Till‘s lynching, and becoming part of protest’s as well as the “March on Washington”. This chain of events was a rare occurrence for a black woman, not only in that time period but in this current time period as well. Because of the pigment of her skin color, as well as the fact that she was an outstanding athlete, she was fortunate enough to get these abnormal opportunities. In this aspect, one can argue that an autobiography doesn’t always represent historical accuracy. A problem with autobiographies is that fundamentally it is an individual experience, not group one. An autobiography of this type can only give us the evaluation of life in the 405 through 605 for a light-skinned black woman growing up in Mississippi, but it can’t surmise the experiences of blacks as a whole in racist Southern states.
This is comparable to how “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank told her specific story and experiences during the Holocaust while others can tell a different story with different experiences. Some of the problems with using an autobiography to illuminate historical events are that popular stereotypes or general social dispositions can’t be fully recognized in these retelling of events. The gender and race discrimination was prevalent throughout Moody’s biography, but the point of view of a black male is not capable of being represented, Black men arguably were subjected to more social stigmas than a woman during this time. The Civil Rights Movement was generally a protest for black men that were then supported by black women, 0n the other side of the coin, this autobiography does give historical accuracy for a black woman in the racist South. Moody being a prominent member of the NAACP is something of note for historians to expound on and analyze With her stature and involvement in the NAACP and protests, historians can use her testimony through her autobiography as a gauge as to how a specific group of people feels.
This group of people being any black man or woman who protested, marched, or took a stand for their civil rights. In conclusion, Anne Moody‘s autobiography, “Coming of Age in Mississippi” was an accurate, as well as inaccurate, representation of how life in the South was before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement Her testimony was slightly inaccurate because of her privilege of getting a scholarship as well as transferring to Tougaloo University, but was seemingly accurate as far as the re-telling of her experiences during her involvement of the Civil Rights Movement. Although she was of a lighter skin tone and an athlete fortunate enough to get a collegian scholarship, her testimony does not full detract away from her experiences in relation to other black men and women growing up in the racist South. Her autobiography gives readers, as well as historians, a vivid recap of the persecution and struggle growing up in a tense racist Southern environment on the cusp of the Civil Rights movement.
