Growing Up In Troubled Times

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Growing Up In Troubled Times: The Life of Anne Moody

Ryan Wulpi H106 Dr. C. Erickson November 6, 2004

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Growing up black in Mississippi in the 50’s and 60’s would be difficult for any child. Add to the fact that your family had minimal amounts of money and many mouths to feed. There are multiple reasons for Anne Moody “coming of age” and becoming politically active. One being her mother kept her continually confused about race, forcing her to define what it meant to be black, all on her own. Specifically, when she questioned her mother about Sam and Walter being her uncles, but wondering aloud why they were white and she and Alberta were black. Her mother refused to give her a straight answer, instead yelling at her. These types of interactions with her mother required Anne to determine, on her own, the meaning of race. She witnessed her mother working so hard everyday that she had to come home and rest her back, working for the white families, and not having enough money to buy Anne new school clothes. It was hard for Anne to comprehend why the white families had a lot of money and why all the black families were so poor. Again, whenever she confronted her mother about these questions, she was greeted with yelling or silence. Anne learned to process all of these questions internally using her intelligence and logic. Another reason had to be the competitive nature that Anne was born with. These qualities are innate, not learned, and became apparent in her course of school with her cousin Darlene. Anne always competed with Darlene, trying to outdo her in any activities that they both participated. More than anything, being intelligent and curious at a young age, coupled with her competitiveness, helped shape the politically active mind that she had as a young woman, involved in the Movement.

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Her competitiveness led her to wonder why blacks were treated differently than whites. It led her to want to be treated like everyone else, regardless of her skin color. It become clear to Anne that everyone around her was satisfied with the status quo. This became apparent when she became friends with the white children, Katie and Bill, across the street in one of the many homes that Anne lived in. It happened one day at the movies, when the children, Anne and her siblings and Katie and Bill, arrived at the same time. They all ran to meet each other and when Katie and Bill went to sit down in the white section, Anne, Adline and Junior followed. Anne’s mother noticed and yelled at them pretty well. Anne learned then why they went to different schools than Katie and Bill and the rest of the white children. She did not understand yet, but she realized that something was not right. She started to understand what every other person of her color had come to understand at a certain point it time, that everything associated with white people was perceived to be better than anything associated with her people, a fundamental problem that this “democratic and free country” imposed on blacks, dating back to before slavery. Blacks had become conditioned to the fact that whites were superior, but Anne did not. She could not understand why everything related to whites was far better than anything that she or her people had. She started to see the racial injustice that surrounded her in Mississippi. This really hit home when Emmett Till was killed. Once again, Anne could not get answers from her mother, and had to come up with an explanation of why. It was at this point in time that Anne’s eyes were opened to the terrible and vicious world in which she lived.

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The passage that struck me initially was the first sit-in at Woolworth’s in Jackson, Mississippi (264-267). I was appalled at the viciousness and ferocity of the mob in the store. How people can be so wicked and cruel is beyond comprehension. The abuse, both verbal and physical, that these young people had to endure is astonishing. It takes special people to be able to handle these circumstances and not fight back. I know that they held workshops before the students went in to demonstrate, but I do not think any type of training can prepare you to undergo such real ferocious abuse. I am not sure that I would have been able to tolerate that brutality and not fought back. These people involved in this particular phase of the movement had to swallow every ounce of pride in their bodies to fight for the common and greater cause. That, in and of itself, is more momentous than most people will be able to accomplish in their entire lives. It makes me extremely proud reading this book, and in particular this passage, as a person who was always taught to stand up for what I believe in, no matter what the consequences. The peculiar thing about Anne Moody is that she never was taught this lesson; she had to learn it on her own. Her mother would have been content, happy even, had she never stood up for what she believed to be right: that all men, and women, were created equal, regardless of their skin color. The way that she explained this incident was so poignant and real, that I felt as if I was sitting there right next to them, experiencing the same brutal violence. As an outsider watching this violence, how can you not be enraged at the way these people were being treated? I guess that is more of a rhetorical question when you remember where all of this was taking place, but I still get very upset when I watch movies or documentaries or read books where

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this type of violence is showcased. From the first three parts of the book, I am having trouble picking out one passage that really strikes me. I think the first three parts in their entirety strike me as moving and emotional. Watching Anne as she grew up in Mississippi, poor and black, I felt as though I was making that journey with her. She was so honest and real, and did her best to paint a candid picture of her life and other’s that grew up poor and black in the Deep South. I particularly like the fact the she does not play the sympathy card, the “woe is me” ploy. Growing up she started to realize that her people where in a perpetual cycle of poverty and discrimination. They could not find good jobs because of discrimination; therefore, they did not have any money, a never-ending vicious cycle. I guess if I had to pick a passage from the first thee parts it would have to be when Anne first realized that her friends, Katie and Bill, were white (37-39). The way she explained this, about seeing them for the first time as white, was very moving, her child-like innocence being broken for the initial time. The realization that everything about them and everything that was associated with them was better, their schools, their homes, even their sidewalks, was also very moving. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be in her shoes, to know that whatever she was going to receive in life, it was never going to be as good as what the white people received. That is a very profound realization; something that I am sure has stayed with her throughout her life. It would be interesting to meet Anne Moody, to listen to her talk, but I already feel as though I know her after reading this book.

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I know for a fact that I would have been involved in the Civil Rights Movement had I grown up in the 50’s and 60’s. I have trouble now, sitting still when I watch documentaries about this period. It enrages me to think that people allowed this to go on, some people perpetuating this violence, but more so the people that weren’t racist or prejudice, and yet watched this happen to other human beings. The people that were responsible for the violence, I do not hold them entirely responsible; they were a product of society. The people that knew this was wrong, stood by, and let it continue. I hold these people ultimately responsible. Now, I do not condone the violence, but I know people who are raised a certain way and are not intelligent enough to figure things out on their own and find their own way. People like Anne Moody, who did figure it out and the people that were involved in the Movement are, at the end of the day, heroes. To stand up for what you believe in, no matter what the consequences, remains an honorable thing. People, as you are growing up, ask you who you would like to meet, past or present, more than anyone else. My answer has always been Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember when I first heard his “I Have a Dream” speech, I was in middle school, and even not knowing then the struggle that he and fellow blacks had went through, chills ran down my spine. Then, after I learned the injustice that blacks went through, made me appreciate even more that amazing speech. To have that much hope and optimism after everything that he had been through and would encounter later, still gives me chills. That to me is the most poignant speech I have ever heard. I am not sure how you could listen to that speech and not want to stand up and scream that something was

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not right. That to treat people differently, because of their race, sex, creed, or sexual preference is fundamentally wrong. Any way you look at it, we are all human beings and all deserve the same rights.

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