Anne Moody Timeline - Part 1

By Roscoe Barnes III, Ph.D.

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

Copyright© 2017

(Updated 6/30/17)

I recently shared this document on a couple of my academic web pages, including Figshare.com (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5165725.v1 )

#AnneMoody

Anne Moody was a civil rights pioneer

and the noted author of

Coming of Age in Mississippi

Note: In presenting this timeline, it is important to note that in the telling of her story, Anne Moody changed the actual names of many people mentioned in the book. These changes included the names of some of her family members.

#AnneMoody

1940 – Anne Moody is born as Essie Mae Moody on September 15 to Fred and Elmira “Too Sweet” Williams Moody near the small town of Centreville, Mississippi, in Wilkinson County.

1952 – She is 12 and in the 6^th grade when she and her family move into a house in Ash Quarters near Highway 24 in Centreville. The house is built by her stepdad, Leroy Jefferson. (In her book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, her stepdad is called Raymond.)

1953 – She is 13 when she is baptized in September by Reverend Tyson of Mount Pleasant church, located off of Highway 24 between Centreville and Woodville. She begins working for Linda Jean Jenkins.

1954 – She is 14 and in the 8^th grade when she is crowned the homecoming queen of Willis High School (historically black school) in November. Her name is officially changed from “Essie Mae Moody” to “Annie Moody” because of an error on her birth certificate. Her stepdad rents land on the former military camp site, Camp Van Dorm, where he digs up grenades and bombs while plowing with a mule.

1955 – She is 14 (soon to be 15) when she learns of the death of Emmett Till, who is lynched in Mississippi on August 28 at the age of 14. This horrific event becomes a turning point in her life. She is filled with shock and anger.

1956 – She is shaken by the murders of the Taplin family. Eight to nine people were reportedly all burned to death in a house fire on the northwest corner of East Highland Street and South Gordon Street in Centreville. She is 15 when she goes to Baton Rouge, La., for the summer, leaving home for the first time, and stays with her Uncle Ed. She returns to Centreville and becomes a Math tutor for several white teenagers in the home of Mrs. Burke, the mother of Linda Jean Jenkins. She stops working for Mrs. Burke and soon starts working for Mrs. Marcia Hunt, one of the owners of Hunt and Taylor Ladies Shop in Centreville.

1957 – She goes to New Orleans, La., for the summer and works for a month in a chicken factory, which she hates. She returns home to Centreville. She is 17 when she leaves home following a conflict with her stepdad and moves to Woodville, Miss., to live with her dad and his wife, Emma. She attends Johnson High School (historically black school) in Woodville.

1959 – She is awarded a basketball scholarship to attend Natchez Junior College in Natchez, Miss. She graduates from Johnson High School and returns to New Orleans for the summer two days later. On August 14, Samuel O’Quinn, a graduate of Tuskegee Institute, successful businessman and dad of 11, is murdered near Centreville reportedly because of his interest in the NAACP and civil rights. She begins freshman year at Natchez Junior College On August 27, the Rev. Harrison D. Dupree and his family flee their home in Fort Adams (located 19 miles west of Woodville) to escape being lynched by a white mob.

1960 – She is attending Natchez Junior College when she experiences her first kiss.

1961 – She returns to New Orleans after leaving Natchez Junior College. She receives full scholarship to attend Tougaloo College. She starts attending Tougaloo College where she decides to become a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Medgar Evers, NAACP leader, speaks at the college.

1962 – During the summer, she meets Joan Trumpauer, a white student at Tougaloo, who is also secretary for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Anne Moody and a friend stage a sit-in on a Trailways bus without approval of any organization. They are threatened and rescued.

1963 – On May 28, she participates in sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson. Civil rights activist Medgar Evers is assassinated on June 12. On June 13, she visits Jackson State College to recruit students for the movement and is later arrested. She attends Evers’ funeral on June 15. She participates in the historic March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28.

On September 15 – her 23^rd birthday – she learns of four girls being killed at the 16^th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Ala., when the church is bombed. This event becomes another turning point for Anne that results in her questioning her faith and the nonviolent movement.

On Friday, November 22, she is working in a restaurant in New Orleans when she learns of President Kennedy being shot and killed.

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Author’s Note:

Questions about the Anne Moody History Project may be directed to Roscoe Barnes III via email at doctorbarnes3@gmail.com or roscoebarnes3@yahoo.com For updates on Anne Moody history and the on-going work of this community service project, please follow AMHP on Twitter (@AnneMoodyHP). Ideas and suggestions are also welcomed.