Dr. Leigh Ann Wheeler Receives Funding for Research on Anne Moody’s Biography

She notes the contribution of the Anne Moody History Project

By Roscoe Barnes III, PhD

Chairman, Anne Moody History Project

Copyright © 2020

#AnneMoody

#ComingOfAgeinMississippi

Dr. Leigh Ann Wheeler
Anne Moody Biographer

Dr. Leigh Ann Wheeler’s work on Anne Moody is featured in a 2019 article published by Binghamton University. The article is titled, “Fellowship Helps Historian Tell the Life Story of Civil Rights Activist: Professor Leigh Ann Wheeler is writing biography of Anne Moody.” See it here.

Wheeler’s book on Moody will be the first biography ever written about the civil rights pioneer who penned Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968). It will undoubtedly be groundbreaking. Among other things, it will cover her life beyond the 1960s. It will also unveil the cast of characters in Coming of Age and delve into Moody’s mental struggles and other challenges.

Moody died in 2015 at the age of 74. She had been suffering from dementia.

Wheeler received a $60,000 award in 2019 through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholar Fellowship. The funding will allow her to take time off from teaching as she travels and conducts her research. So far, she has made several trips to Moody’s hometown of Centreville, Mississippi, which is located in Wilkinson County in southwest Mississippi.

As the chairman of the Anne Moody History Project (AMHP), I can say we’re happy to have played a role in Wheeler’s research. We’re also pleased to be mentioned in this fine article. The article notes our work as follows:

There was little information online in the late 1990s and early 2000s about Moody, who kept a low profile after releasing a collection of short stories called “Mr. Death: Four Stories” in 1975. Two years after Moody’s 2015 death, Wheeler discovered a website run by Roscoe Barnes III, a chaplain at a correctional facility in Wilkinson County, Miss., where Moody grew up and lived her later years. Barnes, who had established the Anne Moody History Project, put Wheeler in touch with members of the Moody family, including several who still live in Wilkinson County, located in southwest Mississippi on the Louisiana border.

We are happy that Moody is finally getting the recognition that she deserves. We are grateful to Wheeler and other scholars/historians who are helping to tell her story. We wish them much success as we continue in our mission to keep her legacy alive.

#CivilRights #BlackHistory #WomensHistory #Mississippi #TougalooCollege #HBCU

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Want 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 Ph.D. 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