Special services set for February
By Roscoe Barnes III
Chairman, Anne Moody
History Project
Copyright © 2018
#AnneMoody
#BlackHistory
#BlackHistoryMonth
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| 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!
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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
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