FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Anne Moody to be Honored with Marker on the Mississippi Writers Trail

Unveiling ceremony set for March 31 in her hometown of Centreville

Note: Ms. Maggie Lowery of Visit Mississippi informed me via email Friday, March 13, 2020, that the marker unveiling may need to be postponed due to COVID-19. I will provide an update when more information is made available. -- Roscoe Barnes III

UPDATE: Ms. Maggie Lowery informed me via email today, March 16, 2020, that the unveiling has indeed been postponed.

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#MississippiWritersTrail

Photo: Maggie Lowery, Cultural Programs Manager for Visit Mississippi, left, and Felicia Williams, Alderwoman for the Town of Centreville.

WOODVILLE, Miss. -- A marker honoring Anne Moody will be unveiled in a special ceremony on Tuesday, March 31, in the town of Centreville. Moody, who wrote Coming of Age in Mississippi, is being featured on the Mississippi Writers Trail. The marker will present a biographical sketch of her life as a civil rights activist and her work as a writer.

The Mississippi Writers Trail is an initiative of the Mississippi Arts Commission, in partnership with the Community Foundation for Mississippi, Mississippi Book Festival, Mississippi Humanities Council, Visit Mississippi, Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Mississippi Library Commission.

The Centreville Board of Aldermen recently approved the event, which will take place at 10 a.m. on West Park Street North in The Louis Gaulden and Riquita Jackson Family Memorial Park, across from the Kevin Poole Van Cleave Library, according to Alderwoman Felicia Williams.

Moody was born and reared in Centreville. She died in 2015 at the age of 74. At the time of her death, she was living in Gloster, Miss. She will now join other famous writers like Eudora Welty, Margaret Walker, Elizabeth Spencer, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Shelby Foote, Walker Percy, and Ida B. Wells.

In addition to Dr. Roscoe Barnes III, chairman of the Anne Moody History Project at MTC/Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, participants in the unveiling ceremony will include Centreville Alderman John Moore, Finch Elementary Student Mykenlii Williams, Former Centreville Mayor Larry Lee, Alderwoman Felicia Williams, and Soloist Alicia Packnett. Speakers will include Stuart Rockoff, executive director of the Mississippi Humanities Council; Dr. Yulonda Sano, assistant professor of history at Alcorn State University; and Dr. Chavis L. Bradford, superintendent of education for Wilkinson County School District.

News of the marker was first shared by Williams in December 2019. She had been working with Maggie Lowery, Cultural Programs Manager for Visit Mississippi, to secure a place for its location. According to Lowery, funding for the project was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities.

Lowery visited Centreville on Friday, February 28. She met with Williams at the Townhall, where they were joined by Barnes and Michelle Higginbotham, both members of the Anne Moody History Project. Williams invited Barnes and Higginbotham to be part of the event.