Roscoe Reporting

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Farewell to Anne Moody: Her Place of Celebration

Memorial service held at Homochitto Association Development Center

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

Anne Moody passed on Feb. 5, 2015. Her memorial service was held

at this location in Gloster, Miss., on Feb. 14, 2015.

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The memorial service for Anne Moody, noted author and civil rights pioneer, was held on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, at Homochitto Association Development Center (HADC) in Gloster, Miss. HADC is located at 2753 Antioch Perkins Road in a rural section of the town in southwest Mississippi.

HADC is named for the Homochitto River. The word "Homochitto" is believed to be a Native American name that means "Big Red River."

The center is 15 miles from Centreville, Miss., where Anne grew up, and six to 12 miles (depending on the route) from her home in Gloster. When she died on Feb. 5, 2015, she was under the care of her sister, Adline Moody, who also lives in Gloster.

Anne’s remains were cremated on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015. Arrangements were entrusted to Richardson Funeral Home of Clinton, La.

As a child growing up in Centreville, Anne and her family attended Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church and Centreville Baptist Church, both in Centreville. But after her passing, her family and friends paid their respects near her Gloster home at HADC.

Friends, family, and civil rights activists attended Anne Moody’s
memorial service here at the Homochitto Association Development
Center in Gloster, Miss.

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Learn MORE about Anne Moody! Visit here to see

the timeline of important events in her life history!

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For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

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

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Rev. Ed King Remembers Anne Moody

He Calls Her ‘One of the Heroines of the Movement’

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

"One of the heroines of the movement"

This phone interview of civil rights pioneer Ed King took place on Wednesday, December 20, 2017. I had called his office a couple of days earlier asking for a short interview about Anne Moody. He returned my call and spent a few minutes answering questions. In this brief audio clip, I ask him how Moody should be remembered. He quickly notes that she should be remembered as “one of the heroines of the movement.”

Here’s his full statement:

"She should be remembered as one of the heroines of the movement, one of the people who took first steps in the Jackson movement. When she moved out with the others at Woolworth, no one knew what would happen. They thought they might be arrested. But she was willing to move, knowing that somebody had to do something, and not wait to see what were the consequences of doing it or even if it might be successful."

King, who was the chaplain at Tougaloo College in the early 1960s, was considered a major figure of the civil rights movement. He is the co-author of Ed King’s Mississippi: Behind the Scenes of Freedom Summer. (University Press of Mississippi, 2014). Like others in the movement, King paid the price for being a civil rights leader. He suffered beatings, threats, and sometimes found his life on the line. For a moving profile of King, see “The Rev. Ed King” by Lynette Hanson in the Jackson Free Press (Thursday, October 30, 2003). Article available here.

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Would you like to know more about Anne Moody?

Visit the Anne Moody page here!

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For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

Friday, January 12, 2018

And the Beat Goes On

New Promotional Ideas for Anne Moody History

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968).
Student photo at Natchez Junior College.

---------------------------------------------

The year 2017 was a remarkable year for the legacy of civil rights pioneer Anne Moody. It will undoubtedly be remembered as a year of discovery and renewed interest in Moody's life and legacy. We might even say that 2017 was the beginning of an "Anne Moody Renaissance."

Thanks to the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP), growing numbers of people throughout the United States are now learning about the life history of this civil rights icon. Some are reading her story for the first time. AMHP was created in March 2017 as a community service project at Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) in Woodville, Miss. Run by WCCF staff, it is dedicated to promoting and helping to preserve the legacy of Moody.

Growing success

Since its creation, AMHP has been effective in using history programs, research, news outlets, social media, public history events and effective promotional plans to share Moody’s story. As a result, people in Mississippi and other states have now joined us in our mission to keep Moody’s legacy alive. And for this, we are grateful.

AMHP member Emma Taplin said that she and other WCCF staff members have been amazed by the success of the project. “When we began this journey we never thought the Anne Moody History Project would have taken off as it has,” she said.

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"I’m happy to announce our work on Anne Moody has been accepted by the Museum Division and the Archives and Record Services Division of the Mississippi Department of Archives & History." – Roscoe Barnes III

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Taplin noted that AMHP was instrumental in having the town of Centreville, Miss., name a day and street in Moody’s honor. This was followed by Wilkinson County approving a resolution to name Highway 24 in her honor. Two organizations are planning to do films about Moody. Scholars are also planning papers, books and an academic conference on Moody.

“We also have museums wanting to accept items and artifacts related to her history,” Taplin said. “It feels good to be a part of something so very special and giving recognition to someone who deserves recognition. She made history in being an active member in the NAACP and participating in sit-ins and marches that changed her life forever, as well as others.”

New promotional ideas

As we step into the New Year, we're planning to be proactive and unrelenting in our promotion of #AnneMoody history. We will build on the work we established in 2017 as we continue to explore new and practical ways to engage people with her story. As we've done over the past year, we intend to connect with audiences through public events, newspapers, journals, social media, blogs, etc. The goal, simply put, is to reach people where they are.

We are currently testing three promotional ideas that involve social media tags and print publications. Wherever possible, the publications may be shared online.

First, we will create an Anne Moody History Calendar designed as a pocket planner. It will feature Moody-related history throughout the year, along with photos for each month of the year. A Preface and short bio will be included. Content for the calendar will be taken from the Anne Moody Timeline and other sources.

Second, we will use the content from the calendar to create “On This Day” factoids for social media. For example, on Jan. 11, 2018, we tweeted:

ON THIS DAY

On Jan. 11, 1918, Fred Moody Sr., the father of #AnneMoody, was born.

Anne Moody died on Feb. 5, 2015. So for that date, we will share:

ON THIS DAY

#AnneMoody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi, died in her home in Gloster, Miss. She was 74.

Third, we’re creating a map for Anne Moody History Tours that will focus on the important places mentioned in Coming of Age in Mississippi. The town of Natchez, Miss., where she attended Natchez Junior College, will be included, but most of the places highlighted will be in Centreville, Miss., her hometown, and Woodville, Miss., where she completed her last year of high school.

Other plans and projects are in the works. Some include the local public school system. We encourage readers to stay in touch and to follow us on social media.

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Visit here to see how we’re

working to keep her legacy alive!

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For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

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

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Anne Moody Featured in Mississippi Museum

Artifacts Housed at African American Museum in Woodville

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

This photograph of Anne Moody was taken by Chrissy Wilson.

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Note: An earlier version of this article reported Anne Moody's typewriter was on display at the African American Museum. We have learned that the typewriter on display was NOT owned by Moody. For this reason, we have deleted mentions of the typewriter in this article. We have also removed the image.

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The African American Museum of Woodville, Miss., is one of the hidden gems of southwest Mississippi. It features artifacts related to several historic figures, including Anne Moody, author of Coming of Age in Mississippi.

Moody was a civil rights pioneer who was born in 1940 in the small rural town of Centreville, Miss. She lived in the town until the age of 17, at which time she moved to Woodville to live with her father, Fred Moody Sr. Woodville is 14 miles west of Centreville. Moody attended Johnson High School, a historically black school in Woodville that closed in 1959, the same year she graduated.

Moody’s ties to Woodville make the museum even more relevant. In addition to her book, Coming of Age, the museum displays a copy of her book, Mr. Death: Four Stories.

The museum includes a large photograph of Moody that was taken by Chrissy Wilson. The portrait shows a smiling Moody in her younger days, wearing a knit cap. Along with the portrait, the museum displays a short biography of Moody.

In addition to Moody, the museum features William Grant Still (1895 - 1978), who was known as a world famous composer and dean of African American classical composers. He is remembered as the first African American to conduct a major orchestra. He conducted the Los Angeles Symphony in 1936.

Other noted figures in the museum are blues guitarist Scott Dunbar (1909 - 1994) and saxophonist Lester “Pres” Young (1909 - 1959). Outside the museum is a Woodville Blues sign. It presents the following:

Musicians from Woodville demonstrate the breadth of the blues’s influence on American music. Composer William Grant Still incorporated the blues into his “Afro-American Symphony,” while the innovative saxophonist Lester “Pres” Young helped define the blues-infused jazz styles of the Count Basie orchestra and vocalist Billie Holiday. More traditional blues artists from the area include Scott Dunbar and his protégé Robert Cage.

The museum is owned and operated by the Woodville Civic Club (WCC). It is located behind the courthouse on the corner of Royal Oak Street and Bank Street in the heart of Woodville's historic district. The museum opened in 2004 after the WCC received a grant to restore its building, according to WCC Executive Director Ernesto Caldeira. “In 2004, thanks to a Mississippi Department of Archives and History Grant, the restoration was completed and the service dependency with bathrooms and storage facilities was built,” according to the WCC website.

In collecting items for display, the museum volunteers wanted to focus on the positive, Caldeira said. He explained: “We wanted to show the accomplishments and contributions of African Americans to the arts and to the literary world. We’re delighted that we have good representations in the people we’re featuring.”

As for Moody, Caldeira said he did not get to meet her. However, his associate, David Smith, spoke with her and invited her to the museum. But she was not able to come.

Moody died in 2015 at the age of 74. She had been suffering from dementia, according to her sisters, Adline Moody and Frances Jefferson.

This two-story building, constructed around 1819, is the home of
the African American Museum. It was known as Branch Banking
House and is believed to be the oldest banking building in Mississippi.

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Centreville, Woodville in

Coming of Age in Mississippi

Moody writes about southwest Mississippi in many parts of her book. She gives colorful anecdotes and memorable descriptions of interesting people and places around her hometown. In an early chapter of her book, she writes about life in the town of Centreville:

“At the end of that summer Mama found it necessary for us to move into town in Centreville, where she worked. This time we moved into a two-room house that was twice the size of the other one.” – Chapter 2, Coming of Age in Mississippi

“I was going to Willis High, the only school Negro school in Centreville. It was named for Mr. C. H. Willis, its principal and founder, and had only been expanded into a high school the year before I started there. Before Mr. Willis came to town, the eighth grade had been the limit of schooling for Negro children in Centreville.” – Chapter 2, Coming of Age in Mississippi

After moving to Woodville, Moody had a room of her own. It was something she appreciated. She lived with her father and his wife, Emma. She writes:

“It was Thursday when I left Alberta’s to live with Daddy. That following Saturday before he went to work, he told me he had given Emma money for us to go into town and buy furniture for my room. He said he had given her enough for me to get whatever I wanted. I was all excited about buying furniture. It was the first time in my life that I would have a room to myself and I was seventeen years old. All that morning I was thinking about how I would fix my room up. I wanted to make it look just like the students’ rooms I had seen in magazines, with a single bed, a bookshelf filled with books, and a desk with a good lamp. I had planned to go to a secondhand store and get most of what I wanted, since I wanted to save most of the money for books. But when we got into town, I discovered Emma had other ideas. She went straight to the most expensive furniture store in Woodville.” – Chapter 16, Coming of Age in Mississippi

Moody spent most of her early years in Centreville, but she also left her mark on Woodville. As a student at Johnson High School, she played basketball under the leadership of Coach Dunbar. She writes:

“Johnson High had become one of the most challenged teams in the state and I was one of its most valuable players. In addition, I organized Johnson High’s first gymnastic and tumbling team, ran track, did substitute teaching, and spent all day Sunday in church. Before I realized it, I was practicing for graduation.” – Chapter 17, Coming of Age in Mississippi

This sign is posted outside the African American Museum.

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Learn MORE about Anne Moody! Visit here to see

the timeline of important events in her life history!

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References/Resources:

To arrange a tour of the African American Museum, send request to: info@historicwoodville.com.

Information on the African American Museum and Historic Woodville is available here: http://www.historicwoodville.org and here: http://www.woodvillems.org/about-us/history

For information on the bluesmen featured in the museum, visit:

http://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/woodville-blues

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For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

Friday, January 5, 2018

Mt. Pleasant to Honor Anne Moody in Celebration of Black History Month

Special services set for February

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

#BlackHistory

#BlackHistoryMonth

Rev. LeReginald Jones, Assistant Pastor
Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church

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Centreville, Miss. -- The congregation of Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, Centreville, will honor the legacy of Anne Moody this year by dedicating two services to her memory, according to Assistant Pastor LeReginald Jones.

The first service will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, February 11, 2018, and the second service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, February 25, 2018. Jones will be the speaker for the first service. Roscoe Barnes III, chairman of the Anne Moody History Project, will speak at the second service.

“We’re calling the second and fourth Sundays, ‘Anne Moody Sunday,’” Jones said. “Usually in February we celebrate Black History Month. This year we’re going to honor Anne Moody.”

Jones said the theme for the two services is, “We Are Because They Were.”

Moody was a civil rights worker and the author of Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968). She and her family were once members of Mt. Pleasant.

“We’re honoring her because she’s done so much for us that we don’t know about,” Jones said. “She was on the front lines of the civil rights movement and made sacrifices, even putting her life on the line.”

Public invited

The public is invited to both services. In recognition of Moody on the fourth Sunday, everyone is asked to wear purple and black. Purple was Moody’s favorite color, according to her sister, Frances Jefferson. Moody’s favorite meal, red beans and rice with fried chicken, will be provided at the service.

Mt. Pleasant is located at 8755 Highway 24 East, Centreville, about 9 miles east of Woodville. The church is in Wilkinson County in southwest Mississippi, about 40 minutes southeast of Natchez. Moody writes about Mt. Pleasant in her autobiography.

Moody was born in 1940. She grew up in Centreville where she faced poverty, hard work, and discrimination during the Jim Crow era. As a teenager, she moved to Woodville where she attended Johnson High School.

Moody’s legacy

Moody and her family attended Mt. Pleasant, the church where she was also baptized as a teenager. She also attended school in a small building near the church. Moody’s parents, Elmira ‘Too Sweet’ Jefferson and Fred Moody Sr., are buried in the cemetery across from the church.

Jones noted that because of Moody’s work for freedom and justice, the world came to know about Centreville and southwest Mississippi. “She put us – and the church -- on the world stage,” he said.

Jones said the church is honoring her “for her heroism and to keep the legacy of Mt. Pleasant alive.” He explained that Mt. Pleasant “has always had progressive and forward-leaning pastors.”

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“Born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, in 1940, Anne Moody spent her early childhood on a plantation where her parents were sharecroppers. As a scholarship student, she attended Natchez Junior College and Tougaloo, graduating from the latter in 1964. Miss Moody has worked for CORE, traveling and speaking all over the nation.” -- From the book cover, Coming of Age in Mississippi

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Jones’ grandfather, the Rev. L.C. Weatherspoon Sr., is the senior pastor of Mt. Pleasant. Jones is the great-grandson of Edna Jones, who is known as “Sister Jones” in Moody’s book.

“I was two when she died,” he said of Sister Jones. “Everybody in the family feels I was her favorite because I was spoiled.”

In addition to serving Moody’s favorite meal, the church also plans to distribute copies of Moody’s book, Coming of Age in Mississippi. Other details about the two Sunday services will be presented at a later date, according to Jones.

For more information on the Anne Moody programs, contact Rev. LeReginald Jones at Regjones06@gmail.com or by calling 601-392-4294.

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Would you like to know more about Anne Moody?

Visit here to see the timeline of important

events in her life history!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Bluff City Post features story about Miss. state recognition of Anne Moody

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

The Bluff City Post of Natchez, Miss., opened the New Year with a story about civil rights pioneer Anne Moody, who wrote Coming of Age in Mississippi. The story, which appears on page two of the paper, focuses on a presentation by Mississippi State Senator Tammy Witherspoon, D-McComb.

In early December 2017, Witherspoon presented a proclamation honoring Moody to Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF), Woodville, Miss. She came to the prison because of its role in sharing Moody’s story through the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP). AMHP is a community service project that was started in March 2017 by WCCF staff.

We appreciate the time and space that Bluff City Post has given to Moody’s story and the work being done by WCCF staff. Every publication helps. And every news announcement is an important step in keeping Moody’s legacy alive.

This story appears on page 2 of the Dec. 22, 2017 – Jan. 12, 2018

issue of The Bluff City Post (Natchez, Miss.). It is one of several

stories about Moody that the newspaper has featured over the past year.

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Would you like to know more about Anne Moody?

Visit here to see the timeline of important

events in her life history!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

New York professor donates 50 copies of Anne Moody’s book

Gift welcomed by Anne Moody History Project

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

#AnneMoody

Members of the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP) received 50 copies
of Coming of Age in Mississippi as a special gift from Professor Leigh Ann
Wheeler, Ph.D., of New York. AMHP members from left: Emma Taplin,
LaVern Taylor and Ruby Dixon.

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Woodville, Miss. -- A New York professor recently donated 50 copies of Coming of Age in Mississippi to the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP). AMHP is a community service project of Wilkinson County Correctional Facility (WCCF) in Woodville, Miss.

Dr. Leigh Ann Wheeler, Professor of History at Binghamton University of Binghamton, New York, said she was delighted to make the contribution. She said via email:

“I sent these to you because I know you are using Anne Moody's autobiography to do great work with inmates at the correctional facility, and also because I know you want to introduce local residents and school children to Anne's life and work--and autobiography.”

Professor Leigh Ann Wheeler, Ph.D.

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Wheeler, who is senior editor of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, is the author of How Sex Became a Civil Liberty (Oxford University Press, 2012) and Against Obscenity:Reform and the Politics of Womanhood in America, 1873–1935 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004). She is widely published in academic journals.

Wheeler is currently doing research on Moody. In fact, she’s writing the first critical biography of the civil rights pioneer. In February, she will visit Centreville, Miss., Moody’s hometown, and other places in southwest Mississippi.

Wheeler said the visit, the first of many, will help her to get better acquainted with the area and the people who knew Moody. Her list of contacts includes the family and friends of the noted author. For more information on Wheeler, see her profile at:

https://www.binghamton.edu/history/people/faculty/wheeler.html

Members of the Anne Moody History Project welcome donation of

Anne Moody's book. From left are: Emma Taplin, LaVern Taylor,

Roscoe Barnes III, and Ruby Dixon.

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Moody was born in 1940 in Centreville. She died in 2015. At the time of her death, she was living in Gloster, Miss. Her book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, was first published in December 1968. AMHP is working to promote and help preserve her legacy as a writer and worker in the civil rights movement.

AMHP member LaVern Taylor said she was pleasantly surprised by Wheeler’s gift, which arrived during the Christmas holiday season.

“I think it’s wonderful in this day and time that people are willing to give such thoughtfulness in educating our people,” she said. “You just don’t have that many people today who would do such a thing, but I’m really grateful to her for this gift.”

AMHP hopes to place the books in the Wilkinson County School District where students in both the high school and middle school can discover Moody’s legacy and be inspired to help make the world a better place to live.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Learn MORE about Anne Moody! Visit here to see

the timeline of important events in her life history!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information:

See the Anne Moody page here.

Roscoe Reporting

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Farewell to Anne Moody: Her Place of Celebration

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Rev. Ed King Remembers Anne Moody

Friday, January 12, 2018

And the Beat Goes On

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Anne Moody Featured in Mississippi Museum

Friday, January 5, 2018

Mt. Pleasant to Honor Anne Moody in Celebration of Black History Month

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Bluff City Post features story about Miss. state recognition of Anne Moody

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

New York professor donates 50 copies of Anne Moody’s book

Natchez Veterans Day Parade set for Wednesday, Nov. 11

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