Anne Moody’s Civil Rights Movement
By
Edna Heqimi
HIS 112-0C1
3 April 2017
Civil rights activist Anne Moody was born in Wilkinson County, Mississippi on September 15, 1940; she is most recognized for her autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi
Robert Cummings, “Anne Moody,” MWP: Anne Moody (1940- ), HYPERLINK "http://mwp.olemiss.edu//dir/moody_anne/index.html#http://olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/moody_anne/index.html" http://mwp.olemiss.edu//dir/moody_anne/index.html#http://olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/moody_anne/index.html (Accessed March 30, 2017).
. She also partook in the NAACP and the SNCC. Moody grew up during a rough time period in Mississippi and dealt with racism and segregation through the “Jim Crow” laws which were enforced in the nineteen-forties and fifties. Her family was not stable, money wise, so Moody had to help by work domestically for white families to help support the family, alongside her mother and step-father working. While working for these white families, she saw the inequalities for African-Americans at an early age and began to understand that very little was being done to rectify them
Jane Duran “Women of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Feminism and Social Progress” (Pg 66), EBSCOhost (Accessed March 30, 2017).
. She knew once she saw the inequalities that were occurring she wanted to become apart of the movement that was against segregation.
The tragic murder of fourteen year old Emmett Till affected Moody in a way where she loathed the white people who were responsible for these murder crimes and African-Americans because they were not standing up and doing something about these murders
Anne Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi” (New York: Dell Publishing, 1968), 129
. As she got more mature, she becomes understanding with what the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) stands for. A short while after that, NAACP member Samuel O’Quinn was murdered by a white individual. “I hated myself and every Negro in Centreville for not putting up a stop to the killings or at least putting up a fight in an attempt to stop them.”
Ibid, 187
Moody was devastated by the losses of the ones she knew and was angry because she is living in this segregated life. She wanted to world to end segregation and stop these innocent African-American people from getting murdered by white people and knew she wanted to be apart of this civil rights movement. This, then, preludes her joining the Civil Rights Movement in her autobiography.
There were a particular number of Jim Crow laws that occurred in Mississippi, and Moody talks about some of them and even creates and attends the protests against those laws. By the time she attends college, she becomes involved with the NAACP. She wanted to become a part of this movement after the killings and beatings that have occurred and fight against segregation. This paper will discuss the Jim Crow laws that occurred in Moody’s autobiography, the laws she protested against, with the consequences and outcomes that came with it, as well as her other involvements in the Civil Rights movement.
The Jim Crow laws were introduced in the late 1800s when the Supreme Court validated the South’s segregation order in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson; “it ruled that “separate by equal” facilities were constitutional under the “equal protection” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
David M. Kennedy and Lizabeth Cohen, The American Pageant, Volume 2: Since 1865, Fifteenth Edition (Suzanne Jeans). Page 474.
. However, many African-Americans were treated unequal from the whites. “Many states could impose legal punishments to people for consorting with members of another race.”
National Parks Service, “Jim Crow Laws”
For this law to be stabilized, southern whites dealt harshly with any African-American who would violate it. This law made the African-Americans less superior to the whites because they would get tormented, or even murdered, and the white people would not be hold accountable for their actions. It was recorded that a number of African-Americans were punished for the “crime” of asserting themselves as equals.
Kennedy and Cohen, The American Pageant. Page 475
The common laws prohibited intermarriage and public institutions (such as schools and theaters) to keep whites and blacks separated.
The first Jim Crow we seem to notice in Moody’s autobiography is the when young Moody went to the theater with her friends and had to sit in the balcony while her white friend sat on the floor level. This took attention to Moody as well. Questioning why the white people had better seats in the theatre and why she could not sit with them. She was later informed on how she could not do this or that with the white children and began to realize how she was different among the white children. “But things were not the same. I had never really thought of them as white before. Now all of a sudden they were white, and their whiteness made them better than me.”
Anne Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi” Page 38.
Moody realized that she did not have the nice things white people got because of her skin color. That got her to realize that now only did they have nicer things, but their schools, homes and streets were better. This sparked her questioning as to why she got the “second hand” to things. Moody wrote about this certain incident at a young age, and did not know about this segregation law until her mother informed her about it; however she thought other wise. “’There is a secret to it besides being white,’ I thought. Then my mind got all wrapped up in trying to uncover that secret.”
Ibid, 39.
She was looking outside of having a certain skin color to why she did not have such nice things as them and continues to question her concern with race and segregation in this time period.
The death of Emmett Till took a toll on Moody. He was a fourteen year old who was brutally murdered for flirting with a woman and was beat nearly to death, shot in the head and thrown into the river
“The Death of Emmett Till” History.com. HYPERLINK "http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till" http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till. (Accessed 2 April 2017).
. “Up until his death, I had heard of Negroes found floating in a river or dead somewhere with their bodies riddled with bullets.”
Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi” Page 121
Moody tells her audience that many African-Americans are being brutalized and were left lying in the road or the river and no one would do anything about it
Ibid, 128
. She tells a story about how she finds out about an African-American man who was beaten to death, and when asking a family member about it, they responded “An Evil Spirit killed him. You gotta be a good girl or it will kill you too”
Ibid, 121
Fast forward eight years later, she realized what the “Evil Spirit” was: white people. She realized that if she were to stand up or try to be civilized with a white person, something terrible might happen to her. “But I did not know what one had to do or not do as a Negro not to be killed.”
Ibid, 126
This developed fear knowing that not only can it happen to adult black, but also to children and teenagers.
Moody’s mother did not really teach Moody about segregation and the horrible outcomes that happen to the African-American people. Moody had to learn about these outcomes and disasters that segregation is causing from her employers, classmates and other adults. It was safe to say that she was a dependent woman who knew what was wrong with society she lived in and wanted to do something about it, but knew the circumstances that went along with it.
When working as a housemaid, she is told about an organization called NAACP, and was later informed by a teacher about what it is, as well as other horrific things that have happened in the south
Ibid
. She felt that she was lowest animal on earth; she learned this hatred towards African-American was more than what it was and she wanted to do something about it.
The Emmett Till murder brought a light the brutality of the Jim Crow segregation and an early momentum of the African-American civil rights movement
“Death of Emmett Till”, History.com
. Due to a child being child being murder, many were angry and upset, including many white people, and wanted to do something about these innocent African-Americans being involved in these hate crimes by white people.
The first encounter of Moody taking part in civil rights movement is when she is in college at Natchez, and a colleague of hers found maggots in her food. Moody took to this and started a boycott in the school cafeteria against the woman who served the students who knew about the maggots and seemed to purposely feed them it
Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi”, page 235
. Moody took charge of this boycott and went to the President of the college to report it. She, as well as other students, knew that they were being treated unfair by receiving rotten food and argued that they deserved better. This later foreshadowed Moody joining the protest in Jackson, Mississippi. Moody stood up for herself and the other students in the college for the mistreatment they were receiving from the cafeteria lady. She demanded that she, as well, as other students would not go into the dining room unless that woman was fired
Ibid, 236
. The President of the college believed Moody and wanted to help change. Although that woman was not fired, Moody’s voice was heard and changes were done in that college. The woman who treated the kids terribly was forced to wear an all white uniform and a hair-net; this showed change, which Moody created, and showed Moody that she does not have to be afraid to use her voice and to protest against something she is against for.
Junior year, Moody transferred to the top black college in Jackson, Mississippi: Tougaloo College. She quickly became involved with the NAACP and the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)
Ibid, 551
.
On May 28, 1963, Moody, as well as other civil rights activists in the NAACP, staged a sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter to protest the Jim Crow law against its segregated seating
Charles Holden, “Civil Rights Sit-in”, HYPERLINK "http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24422" http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24422. (Accessed 2 April 2017).
. Moody and her fellow activists were not getting serviced and she has repeatedly told the waitress “All we want is service.”
Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi”, Page 265.
Students from a high school started going into Woolworth’s and started to chant anti-Negro slogans to Moody and her friends. Other white individuals swarmed the place and began to act violently towards these protestors. They were being verbally abused and having condiments being poured on them for sitting in a spot that was reserved for white people. So much was going on around them, Moody says “We kept our eyes straight forward and did not look at the crowd except for occasional glances to see what was going on.”
Ibid
Moody had to look out in case anyone from the mob was going hurt any of them,. Medgar Evers, a field secretary of the NAACP, was informed of what is occurring at Woolworth’s and told Moody and the other protesters they were free to leave
Emily Langer, “Anne Moody, activist and chronicler of the civil rights movement, dies at 74” HYPERLINK "https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-moody-activist-and-chronicler-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-74/2015/02/09/b7f5992c-b073-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html?utm_term=.f188e1bc3bd5" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-moody-activist-and-chronicler-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-74/2015/02/09/b7f5992c-b073-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html?utm_term=.f188e1bc3bd5 (Accessed on 3 April 2017)
They were whites and African-Americans protesting at this sit-in, but that caused the crowd to be furious, because the white people sitting with them, and believed that was a wrong thing to do. After a short while, things between the protestors got physical. They were being dragged and thrown from their seats, slapped and beaten for the sit-in, “we sat there for three hours taking a beating.”
Moody, “Coming to Age in Mississippi” Page 267
These southern men were angry at the fact that African-Americans and white people were sitting next to each other at this place, that they used their anger towards violence. “They believed so much in the segregated way of life, they would kill to preserve it”
Ibid
This quote relates back to when Moody was in high school, learning about the way white people would kill African-Americans due to the fact that these individuals despised them. It goes back to fourteen year old Emmett Till getting brutally murdered for whistling at a woman and a NAACP member getting murdered because he was apart of the NAACP. People in the South were used to living in a segregated world that they would do anything to continue living in that lifestyle, but Moody and her fellow activists wanted to stop that from happening because equality.
After the sit-in, there were demands on behalf of the Jackson Negroes that included hiring of African-American policemen, integration of public parks and libraries, and encouraging public eating establishments to serve both whites and Negroes
Ibid, page 269
. Because people were known about those involved with the NAACP and wanted civil rights to happen, police, newsman and those opposed to the integration were involved. Moody and several of her colleagues went to protest at the post office, and were interrupted by a Captain announcing that if they did not disperse, they would be under arrest. Knowing that a mob is ready to attack them, Moody and others had no other choice but to get arrested. They would rather be locked up in jail then to be harassed and physically abused an angry mob outside of the post office. While in jail, Moody discovered that over four-hundred high school students had been arrested. This filled Moody and her colleague with pride and joy because that is one step closer to a civil rights movement and that is the NAACP’s goal.
Ibid, page 273
Within a several amount of days, Jackson, Mississippi was considered a hotbed of racial demonstrations and most of the African-American students in high school and college were participating in it.
“Three weeks after the sit-in, Medgar Evers was murdered, shot in the back in the driveway of his home, last at night as he returned from a meeting.”
Bill Chandler, “The Jackson Movement Chronicled: Organizing that Changed Mississippi.” Against the Current, 28-29. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (Accessed 3 April 2017).
A member of the NAACP has died and other members of it are devastated it happened. Moody was disappointed in the fact that no one reacted to Medgar’s death, and instead they were in class learning. She thought that classes should have been canceled and that they should be protesting for his death
Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi”, Page 279
. She felt this way because Medgar was a big part of the NAACP and she thought that protesting for his death could help with the civil rights movement and hopefully get more people to join. She was arrested for participating in a march in honor of Evers
Langer, washingtonpost.com
.
It seems that Moody viewed Medgar’s death as a hate crime due to the fact that he was an important member of the NAACP. This possibly took her back to the time where there were hate crimes to the African-Americans back when Moody was a teenager. Those hate crimes that occurred in Moody’s past have made her feel like she needed to speak up and stand up, because she did not have the chance to prior joining the NAACP and SNCC. She had known about the NAACP but was taught to stay away and talk about it because she knew she would get in trouble with the whites. But as she grew up she found the platform and knew she had to take the risk of joining these movement groups for the civil rights everyone deserves.
Moody, then, joined CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality). CORE embraced a pacifist, non-violent approach to fighting racial segregation
“Congress of Racial Equality”. History.com. HYPERLINK "http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/congress-of-racial-equality" http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/congress-of-racial-equality (Accessed 3 April 2017).
. She assists in working with CORE in Canton, Mississippi for Madison County, because it was considered a place with a possible future for African-Americans
Moody, “Coming of Age in Mississippi”, Page 286.
. They were working to start a voter registration campaign project. Later, in Canton, Mississippi, Moody finds herself in a predicament with the Ku Klux Klan and fears for her life. To know that she is fighting for integration in the south, alongside others, is not working out for her is devastating for her and the audience. The audience could sense her fear knowing the Ku Klux Klan is out to kill her, because she is participating in making African-Americans receive their equal rights.
In an interview, back in 1985, Anne Moody sat down and talked about the Civil Rights movement and her autobiography. “The mere fact that I was a black person limited me as human being in other people’s eyes.”
Spencer, Debra. “Anne Moody oral history interview”. HYPERLINK "https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144603/http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU076_096117.pdf" https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144603/http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU076_096117.pdf (Accessed 3 April 2017).
She was discouraged from many people but Moody was determined to stick to the fight for Civil Rights. She did not like the treatment the African-Americans were receiving from when she was a child to the time where she goes to college. The movement brought people to the NAACP and the SNCC; it made them aware of things where there would be no turning back.
Debra Spencer. “Oral History Interview” Page 31-32
. Aside from the killings and murders, Moody wanted to help basic rights for people and even gave up her profession of becoming a doctor to fulfill those rights.
Ibid, Page 12
. The voter registration in Canton, Mississippi was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement because African-Americans outnumbered the white people and wanted to help get their rights for voting.
Life in the late 1950s to the 60s was hard for any African-American. They were being treated horribly by other because of these laws that were enforced in the South, known as Jim Crow laws. Many turned up beaten or murdered if they tried to act civil with each other and not many did anything about it. Author Anne Moody noticed these things and had wanted to take part of the movement that would make African-Americans civilized with the white people. She took risks that caused her to get hurt physically and emotionally, arrested and almost killed to speak up for what she stands for. Her autobiography gives an insight on how one should not give up on what they stand for and that risks can result in rewards, in which for her case at the end of her autobiography, not so much.
Bibliography
– A&E Networks. “The Death of Emmett Till.” History.com. HYPERLINK "http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till" http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till (Accessed 2 April 2017. Tells us about the heartbreaking murder of fourteen year old Emmett Till, who Anne Moody mentions in her autobiography.
– "Anne Moody." Biography.com. February 22, 2015. HYPERLINK "http://www.biography.com/people/anne-moody-37999/civil-rights-activist" http://www.biography.com/people/anne-moody-37999/civil-rights-activist. (Accessed 30 March 2017). This website gives an insight on what occurred in Anne Moody's life as well as her Civil Rights actions
– Chandler, Bill, “The Jackson Movement Chronicled: Organizing that Changed Mississippi.” Against the Current, no. 6 (January 2014): 28-29. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (Accessed 3 April 2017).
– “Congress of Racial Equality”. History.com. HYPERLINK "http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/congress-of-racial-equality" http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/congress-of-racial-equality (Accessed 3 April 2017). Gives an outline on what CORE is and since Moody was a part of it, site gives us more detail as to what goes on in this movement for civil rights.
– David M. Kennedy and Lizabeth Cohen, The American Pageant, Volume 2: Since 1865, Fifteenth Edition (Suzanne Jeans). This history textbook is a great secondary source for students who learn about the events that have occurred during the late 19th century as well as the 20th century.
– Duran, Jane. “Women of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Feminism and Social Progress.” Philosophia Africana 17, no. 2 (Winter2015/2016 2015): 65-73. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (Accessed 31 March, 2017). This secondary source tells the audience about African-American women involved in the civil rights movement.
– Holden, Charles. "Teaching History.org, home of the National History Education Clearinghouse." Civil Rights Sit-in | Teachinghistory.org. Accessed April 03, 2017. HYPERLINK "http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24422" http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24422. Explains what happened in the civil rights movement and the only site I could find on the Jackson sit-in that thoroughly explains what happened.
– "Jim Crow Laws." National Parks S
ervice.. HYPERLINK "https://www.nps.gov/malu/learn/education/jim_crow_laws.htm" https://www.nps.gov/malu/learn/education/jim_crow_laws.htm. (Accessed 31 March 2017). this website gives a list on the Jim Crow laws that occurred in various states of the 1960s, which is useful towards Moody’s autobiography
– Langer, Emily, “Anne Moody, activist and chronicler of the civil rights movement, dies at 74” HYPERLINK "https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-moody-activist-and-chronicler-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-74/2015/02/09/b7f5992c-b073-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html?utm_term=.f188e1bc3bd5" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-moody-activist-and-chronicler-of-the-civil-rights-movement-dies-at-74/2015/02/09/b7f5992c-b073-11e4-827f-93f454140e2b_story.html?utm_term=.f188e1bc3bd5 (Accessed on 3 April 2017). Talks about Moody and the Woolworth’s sit-in which helped spark up the civil rights movement.
– Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. New York, NY: Dell Publishing, 1968. Anne Moody's autobiography talks about growing up in segregation and into the civil rights movement
– Spencer, Debra. “Anne Moody oral history interview”. HYPERLINK "https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144603/http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU076_096117.pdf" https://web.archive.org/web/20150402144603/http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU076_096117.pdf (Accessed 3 April 2017).
Moody was interviewed for her autobiography as well as other novels she wrote. She also talks about the civil rights movement and why she got involved with it.
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