By Roscoe Barnes III
Natchez, MS, USA/ListenUpYall.com
May 6, 2025/12:23 p.m.
Natchez, MS, USA/ListenUpYall.com
May 6, 2025/12:23 p.m.
 |
| Anne Moody was a civil rights activist and the author of "Coming of Age in Mississippi." She attended Natchez College in the early 1960s on a basketball scholarship after graduating from high school in Woodville, Mississippi. |
NATCHEZ, Miss. -- A building on the campus of Natchez
College will soon house historic documents, artifacts, and memorabilia of one
of its famous students and authors who played a significant role in the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1960s.
The Women’s Auxiliary building – the main building on
campus -- will be home to the Anne Moody Interpretive Center, which honors the
legacy of Anne Moody, author of “Coming of Age in Mississippi.” Moody attended
the school on a basketball scholarship in the early 1960s, before moving on to
Tougaloo College, where she became a civil rights activist.
The name for the center was approved in November 2024 by
the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi Inc., announced
the Rev. Reginald M. Buckley, who is president of the convention.
When asked about the reason for the interpretive center,
Buckley said, “We believe that it is extremely important to protect the voices
and preserve the narratives that are often silenced. Moody’s time spent at
Natchez College was formative in her development as a writer and activist as
she discovered her agency to confront and speak to issues.
“Establishing the Anne Moody Interpretive Center at the
Baptist Heritage and Arts Center at Natchez College will help to keep
Moody’s spirit of agency and activism alive for future generations to be
inspired.”
“I’m so happy Natchez College is honoring Anne,” said Frances Jefferson, Moody’s sister. “I’m looking forward to visiting the interpretive center when it’s completed.”
Moody (1940-2015) was born and raised in Centreville, Mississippi. She grew up as a poor black girl in the Jim Crow South, but despite her limitations, she found courage in the midst of bigotry and racial violence in a segregated society. In her memoir, Moody recounted how she risked her life in her fight for civil rights for African Americans and other people of color. She suffered beatings and endured multiple incarcerations in her efforts to bring about change.
Those who knew Moody say that she exhibited courage as she fought for justice, voter registration, and equal access to public places.
Moody wrote about Natchez College in chapters 18 and 19 of her book. She discussed in detail the problems the students had with the food. Buckley noted, “It was there that she participated in her first public protest that involved the student meals.” For that reason, Buckley envisions the cafeteria in the Women’s Auxiliary building being the space where the interpretive center is housed.
According to Buckley, the interpretive center will also
allow future generations to know of Moody’s history and be inspired by her work
in the Civil Rights Movement.
“An interpretive center in her name will serve as a catalyst for programs that speak directly to our youth,” he said. “This would include writing programs and expressionist projects that interpret her life history while helping the young people to discover their own voices the way that Moody discovered hers.”
In other words, Buckley said, “the interpretive center would aid in helping our youth with self-expression via writing, speech, and other forms of communication. It would present history – and ideas – that would inspire them to become change agents in their respective communities.”
The interpretive center is expected to reach diverse groups of people and speak to them on different levels. In addition to providing programs related to Moody’s legacy, the interpretive center will include compelling exhibitions and relevant displays of period photographs and art, as well as copies of Moody’s books, articles, and family artifacts, Buckley said.
“I’m so happy Natchez College is honoring Anne,” said Frances Jefferson, Moody’s sister. “I’m looking forward to visiting the interpretive center when it’s completed.”
Moody (1940-2015) was born and raised in Centreville, Mississippi. She grew up as a poor black girl in the Jim Crow South, but despite her limitations, she found courage in the midst of bigotry and racial violence in a segregated society. In her memoir, Moody recounted how she risked her life in her fight for civil rights for African Americans and other people of color. She suffered beatings and endured multiple incarcerations in her efforts to bring about change.
Those who knew Moody say that she exhibited courage as she fought for justice, voter registration, and equal access to public places.
Moody wrote about Natchez College in chapters 18 and 19 of her book. She discussed in detail the problems the students had with the food. Buckley noted, “It was there that she participated in her first public protest that involved the student meals.” For that reason, Buckley envisions the cafeteria in the Women’s Auxiliary building being the space where the interpretive center is housed.
“An interpretive center in her name will serve as a catalyst for programs that speak directly to our youth,” he said. “This would include writing programs and expressionist projects that interpret her life history while helping the young people to discover their own voices the way that Moody discovered hers.”
In other words, Buckley said, “the interpretive center would aid in helping our youth with self-expression via writing, speech, and other forms of communication. It would present history – and ideas – that would inspire them to become change agents in their respective communities.”
The interpretive center is expected to reach diverse groups of people and speak to them on different levels. In addition to providing programs related to Moody’s legacy, the interpretive center will include compelling exhibitions and relevant displays of period photographs and art, as well as copies of Moody’s books, articles, and family artifacts, Buckley said.
Buckley hopes the Interpretive Center will open around
2027, when other restoration work is completed at the Women’s Auxiliary
building. The work will cost an estimated $6.5 million and when finished will
provide classroom, office spaces and historical archives where research about
Baptist life in Mississippi can occur. That is far more than the $750,000
awarded in 2022 to complete the first floor restoration of the T.J. Huddleston
Memorial Chapel on the Natchez College campus.
Funding for the chapel was provided as a pass-through
grant by Lilly Endowment Inc., which was part of a $2.5 million grant to the
Foundation for Mississippi History to support Mississippi Department of
Archives and History programs that promote public understanding of the role of
religion in Mississippi history and culture.
Buckley said the first floor of the chapel has been
completed, and funds are being sought for the second floor.
Natchez College was established by the Baptist convention
as a private, historically black institution in 1884. The school, which later
became Natchez Junior College, closed in 1989. Booker T. Washington visited the
school in 1908.
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