The book “Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi”

 Finish reading Parts 2, 3, and 4 of Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi early this week so you can complete the essay. Here are some study questions to guide your reading. Keep them with you as you read: How does Anne/Essie earn income? What challenges does she face in doing her work in various jobs? What are some of the ways in which interactions among African Americans and whites are difficult in her community? How is Anne affected by Emmett Till’s murder? Why are some of her family and friends reluctant to discuss the NAACP or race relations? What are the early signs of Anne’s independent-mindedness and her interest in activism? How does Anne overcome obstacles to getting a college education? How does the boycott of the college dining hall begin? What lessons does Anne draw from it? How do judgments about skin color play a role within the African American community? Note some examples for each of these mechanisms of control that were hallmarks of the Jim Crow South: economic discrimination, psychological intimidation, violence, self-policing. What are the main issues civil rights activists focus on in the book? What do we learn about the distinctions among these different civil rights organizations: NAACP, SNCC, CORE, COFO. Describe gendered roles within the civil rights organizations as Anne experiences them. Anne and Rose hold a spontaneous sit-in at the bus station. What lesson do they draw from the experience? What are the risks of joining the civil rights movement? Why are some members of Anne’s family not supportive of her activism? How did some local whites react to the sit-in at Woolworth’s lunch counter? What major acts of violence take place in the book? In what way are they related to the civil rights struggle? What does Anne’s story tell us about the level of commitment required of people who volunteered to push for civil rights in the South in this era?