What readers and leaders had to say about this extraordinary
woman and her book, Coming of Age in Mississippi
#AnneMoody
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Coming of Age in Mississippi was first published in 1968 by Dial
Publishing. It has reportedly remained in print since that time. Over the
years, it has been required reading in many schools. |
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Note: This collection of reviews and comments about Anne Moody and her classic autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, was taken from multiple sources. While many originated as blurbs and promotional copy featured in the book (and on the book’s cover), some of the comments came from newspaper articles, blog posts, and online discussion groups.
The language will undoubtedly appear dated in some of the comments, particularly when the word “negro” is used. Still, the sentiments expressed are just as relevant and meaningful today as they were in years past. Some may argue, and with some justification, I might add, that the ideas shared about Moody are more pertinent today given the current political (and racial) climate.
Whatever views one may have about race and politics, it is my hope that we will learn from Moody’s story … take a few risks … and be inspired to make a difference by working -- and serving -- in the interest of freedom, justice and civil rights for all. May her memory be honored and may her legacy live on for future generations. – Roscoe Barnes III, Chairman, Anne Moody History Project
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"Reading this book places
you right in the heart of the civil rights movement, with a remarkably strong
woman as your guide. She was bold and outspoken and unafraid.
“Coming of Age was a big
deal when it came out, and it’s still a big deal now, nearly fifty years later.
It is read in literature and history classes in high schools, colleges and
universities throughout the country, indeed, around the world. It is one of
those rare sorts of books that has never gone out of print. It is a modern-day
classic.” -- M. J. O’Brien, author of We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson
Woolworth’s Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired
“Her
book, ‘Coming of Age in Mississippi,” guarantees her immortality. But more than
that, we shall always remember a brave, a plucky and committed human being who,
despite the many and various vicissitudes, continued toward the Sun.” – John Salter Jr., Tougaloo professor, in The Clarion-Ledger (Feb. 7, 2015)
“We came from a very poor
family, and when she joined the movement, she did it because it was something
that needed to be done. She wasn’t out there just to be there. I’m very proud
of her for what she did. She made it better for me.” – Adline Moody, sister of Anne Moody, in interview with the Associated
Press (Feb. 7, 2015)
“An Eloquent, Moving
Testimonial To Her Courage… A Shattering Experience.” – Chicago Tribune
“ENGROSSING, SENSITIVE,
BEAUTIFUL … SO CANDID, SO HONEST AND SO TOUCHING, AS TO MAKE IT VIRTUALLY
IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN.” – San Francisco Sun-Reporter
“A
history of our time, seen from the bottom up, through the eyes of someone who
decided for herself that things had to be changed…. A timely reminder that we
cannot now relax.” – Senator Edward
Kennedy, The New York Times Book Review
“Something is new here …
rural southern black life begins to speak. It hits the page like a natural
force, crude and undeniable and against all principles of beauty, beautiful.” – The
Nation
“Soul is an elusive,
overworked, often misapplied term … but it fits this powerful autobiography.” –
Library Journal
“Supremely
involving…written with stripped simplicity … not a single false high note.” –
Kirkus Reviews
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Anne Moody grew up in the small town
of Centreville, Miss., in Wilkinson County. |
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“Anne Moody recounts the
horror and shame of what growing up in Mississippi really means if you are
black. Poverty, knives, threats, arson, miscegenation, illegitimacy, domestic
service, police brutality, Uncle Toms, lynchings, the works. Miraculously, out
of the quagmire the personal excellence of this extraordinary woman and writer
emerges …. Her later involvement with NAACP, CORE, summer projects, rights
demonstrations, ugliness, violence, she describes without a trace of
see-what-a-martyr-am-I. … A lovely and true book that gives you what good
writing is supposed to: catharsis, baby.” – Publishers Weekly
“The
most moving and honest account of what life is like for the Negro in
Mississippi as one is apt to find … a far better story (and certainly far
better told) than most fiction being published today … One of the most
(possibly the most) engrossing, sensitive, beautiful books of nonfiction which
has been published for years and years.” – San Francisco Sun-Reporter
“Simply, one of the best …
For those readers who still persist in the myth that growing up black in the
South is little different from growing up white, this book should prove a
shattering experience …. Anne Moody’s autobiography is an eloquent, moving
testimonial to her courage; indeed, to the courage of all the young who storm
the preserves of bigotry…. After reading this remarkable book, we know that
this is the way it is.” – Chicago Tribune
“Definitive … supremely
human … Anne Moody tells it like it is – and tells it with sensitivity and
anger and despair and frustration and wondering …. She is a hero, I suppose, by
measurements of history; but she is not a profile of a hero … she is as
multi-dimensional as any person I have met in print.” – Oregon Journal
“Nearly
half a century after its publication, Ms. Moody’s 1968 autobiography remains a
noted volume in the library of first-person accounts describing the inequality
suffered by African Americans of her era.” –
Emily Langer, Washington Post
“She had determination.
That determination carried on in her work in the civil rights movement, gave
her strength to stand up to things.” –
The Rev. Ed King, former chaplain of Tougaloo College, in The Clarion-Ledger (Feb. 7, 2015)
“She gave us the testament
of her youth and sacrificed her fragile consciousness on the altar of
nonviolence so that we might all have a better life, a better America, a better
world. That’s quite a legacy.” --
M. J. O’Brien, author of We Shall Not Be Moved: The Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-In
and the Movement It Inspired
"I
am deeply saddened by the death of Anne Moody. Anne dedicated her life to
ensuring equality for others. Her sacrifices will never be forgotten and her
legacy will live on in the hearts of many.”
-- Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02)
“Not surprisingly, Mississippi
students respond strongly to Moody’s powerful, very personal account of her
growing consciousness of racism in Mississippi in the late 1950s and early
1960s, and her gradual evolution into an angry, outspoken participant in the
burgeoning Civil Rights movement.
“Moody wrote her book while
she was still young; her account of her childhood (poverty, the hatred of local
whites, her mother’s fear of her activism, etc.) is moving because she was the
age of most of my students when she wrote about her own childhood, high school
and college experiences.” -- Maureen Ryan, USM professor of English
(http://www.studentprintz.com/civil-rights-activists-legacy-lives)
“I always looked up to Anne Moody after reading
her memoir in one of my English classes and when I heard the unfortunate news
of her death, I could not believe it, but I knew she had left behind a powerful
legacy from the
changes she made.” -- Katelyn
Daniels, a
junior psychology major (http://www.studentprintz.com/civil-rights-activists-legacy-lives)
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For more information:
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,
simply follow this blog or follow AMHP on Twitter
(@AnneMoodyHP). #ComingOfAgeinMississippi
