Anne Moody and Centreville Missionary Baptist Church

By Roscoe Barnes III

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

Copyright © 2018

#AnneMoody

Centreville Missionary Baptist Church is featured in Anne Moody’s 
Coming of Age in Mississippi. It was considered the largest black 
church in Centreville, Miss. The church was bricked in the early 1970s, 
according to Moody’s family.

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Curiosity got the best of me. After reading about Centreville Missionary Baptist Church in Anne Moody’s book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, I had to find the church and take a look at the cemetery behind it. The church is on the corner of Church Street and Cemetery Street in the northeast section of Centreville, Miss. It is pastored by the Rev. Jack Brown Jr.

The church is in the part of the town that's located in Amite County. Moody’s childhood home, located off of Highway 24 on the corner of Anne Moody Street (formerly Fort Street) and Hospital Road, is in Wilkinson County.

Readers of Moody's book will recall that her family began attending the church after they moved into town. They had previously attended Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, which was in the rural part of Centreville. The family of Moody's step-father, Raymond (Leroy Jefferson), and his mother, Miss Pearl (Violet Graves Jefferson), were active members of the church. Raymond and Miss Pearl are also buried in the cemetery behind the church along with other members of the Jefferson family.

In Chapter 5 of Moody’s book, she writes about her family’s connection to Centreville Baptist. She also gives a physical description of the church building. At the time, the church apparently had a white frame structure. But it was bricked in the early 1970s, according to Moody’s family.

“Raymond and Miss Pearl them belonged to Centreville Baptist, the largest Negro church in town. Now that we were living with Raymond Mama started thinking about joining Raymond’s church.”

“One Saturday in early spring she [Mama] went to town and bought a new dress and hat for herself. That night, before we went to bed, she told us that we’d have to get up early the next morning because we were going to Centreville Baptist. I couldn’t fall asleep for a long time, thinking about going there. Raymond had once taken us for a ride and showed it to us. It was a big white frame building on a brick base with cement steps all the way across the front. It had great big windows painted in different shades of blue and green. I wondered as I fell asleep what it was like inside.”

Moody was quite impressed with the choir at Centreville Baptist. She wanted to join the church and sing with the choir. She writes:

“While the collection for the sick was being taken up, the choir sang a few songs. This was the first time I had been in a church that had a choir. I used to listen to choirs on the radio sometimes, and this one sounded just as good. They sang ‘Rock of Ages’ and ‘Stand by Me.’ There were young girls among the singers. Some of them didn’t look any older than me. I sat there listening to them and hoping Mama would change her membership to here. ‘Then I could sing in the choir too,’ I thought.”

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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!

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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