COMING OF AGE | history-with-hagan

COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI STUDY GUIDE:

For this book you’ll need higher-order thinking and basic memorization information.

First, though, here’s a little bit of backstory that will make it easier to understand Coming of Age.

Anne Moody lived in Mississippi, the state that began the whole process of destroying rights for African Americans when it finalized its state Constitution of 1890. You've read about that Constitution in the written lecture on African American Civil Rights. It attacked voting rights for black citizens, which left them helpless. Once they could not vote, African Americans could not stop the state from passing laws that segregated schools, parks, swimming pools, trolleys, hospitals, etc.

Mississippi was the architect state in that it was the first to develop a legal method for destroying the rights of a large segment of its population. Other states followed suit and quickly adopted measures from the Mississippi Constitution of 1890.

Coming of Age in Mississippi was actually published as part of an effort to fight back against Mississippi's treatment of African Americans. Moody was part of the Jackson, Mississippi Civil Rights Movement that took place in the early 1960s. The movement caused such extreme upheaval in Jackson that one of the prominent leaders – Medgar Evers – had to have a special house without a front window because of the threat of assassination. This threat was quite real. Evers was assassinated at his home in 1963.

The Jackson movement is also famous for being fought over by various reform groups – all of whom wanted the publicity that came from desegregating this particular city. The movement was gaining momentum when it came to Jackson, and a lot of groups - the NAACP, SNCC - wanted to be involved in charge. Moody writes about acrimony among the reformers. She’s not kidding. It was severe.

The influx of civil rights groups into Jackson – all competing to take credit for the movement – lead to allegations that the protesters were all outsiders – northerners coming in to agitate for things that REAL Mississippians (black and white) didn’t want. Anne Moody was asked to write about her engagement with the movement to prove that actual Mississippians were involved. That’s why this book was written.

So, to prepare this book for an exam, you need to be familiar with the following:

FACTUAL INFORMATION:

The book itself.

Publication date

What is in the book – is there an introduction, pictures, bibliography.

What time period does it cover?

Where it takes place. Know the various settings.

Anne Moody’s life:

Where she grew up.

Her childhood – the houses she lived in, her diet, toys, relatives, siblings. Who were her parents?

George Lee

The incident with Sam and Walter.

Mrs. Pearl, Florence, and what they reveal.

Employment - what kinds of jobs did her parents and her stepfather have?

Family dynamic - Who was her mother? What kind of a mother was she? How many children did she have? Who did she marry and how did the marriages and up? Were there problems with in-laws? Why?

Raymond and some of the problems with this individual.

Where did Anne Moody work? When did she start and what jobs did she hold? What hours did she work?

Mrs. Burke/Wayne/Mrs. Crosby/ Mrs. Jenkins

Emmett Till

How many people did Anne Moody know who were killed in racial violence? Or who were shot or beaten?

White people. What did she think about them? What did they think about black people?

Consider her education, the schools she attended. Where did she graduate - from what schools? How was it that she managed to go to college?

What sport did she play? What other activities did she participate in during school? Why?

The Maple Hill Restaurant and her grandmother's reaction to her taking a job there.

Natchez College and Moody's reaction to the school.

Basketball, the dining hall, the culture at Natchez College

Tougaloo College

The Civil Rights Movement. This is a whole section. You need to look at how she got involved in the movement.

The lunch-counter sit in

Take a look at how the movement worked - what organization recruited people, what organization paid bail money, what organizations united people, gave people places to stay. She was at a Freedom House at one point. What was that? Where was it?

Death threats, scary moments Moody experienced.

HIGHER-ORDER THINKING EXERCISES:

UNDERSTANDING:

Compare and contrast Moody’s experiences at her church in Woodville with the church she attended in Centerville.

Describe how Moody’s family reacted to her activities in the movement.

Describe two events from the book that made clear to Anne Moody that blacks were not considered the equal to whites in Mississippi.

Compare Linda Jean and Mrs. Burke and their attitudes towards Moody.

Describe three moments in this book that made Moody feel particularly proud.

Describe how it felt to take part in a sit in.

APPLICATION

Anne Moody acknowledges harboring a hatred for white people. Why? What things in her life do you think shaped her thinking into outright hatred?

Moody notes that she was the first person in her family to attend college. Why? What made her stand out in her family?

Remember, as you look at these topics, that we're looking at the legacy of 1890s politics. Consider how those policies ended up damaging both blacks and whites. How were African Americans living in the 1960s thanks to decades under the segregation laws? What had happened to whites? What had they become?

What happened to people who were prominent in the Movement? What was their fate? What about Anne Moody herself? What happened to her physically and emotionally?

What is the ending like? Why?

What is the significance of Moody’s relationship with Lola? What did this individual do for her?

Why was Moody nervous about going to Tougaloo College?

EVALUATE:

In the Brown vs Board decision of 1954, the Supreme Court acknowledged that racial segregation was harmful even if separate facilities were provided for whites and blacks. What does Anne Moody’s experience say about this argument? Does it support or challenge this position? How?

Analyze the effect that racism has on its victims an on society.

Anne Moody at one point says she joined the movement because she had nothing to lose. Why would she say that?

Why do you think the book ends the way it does?

CREATE:

Let’s try a counterfactual again. The Civil Rights Movement was non-violent in that it involved passive resistance. What it that had not been the case? What if the movement had embraced violent resistance? What would have happened in the United States, do you think?

What do you think of Anne Moody? What was she like?

Take the lowest moment in this book – the moment when Anne Moody felt the worst. Write up a comparable moment from your life and compare the two. How do your experiences differ? How are they the same?

How would you argue against segregation if you were speaking to Mrs. Burke in 1963?

BOOK REVIEW:

Autobiographies can be reviewed just like everything else. It’s just that the evaluation is a little different.

Autobiographical reviews often hinge on CREDIBILITY. So you ask questions like this:

Does the author remember things correctly? (Are dates accurate? People?)
How much time passed between the experience and the autobiography?
Is he/she biased?
Is he/she fabricating? (Like, what if conversations that took place 50 years ago are recalled perfectly. What does that suggest?)
Are the recollections within norms? (Look out for the bombshell in an autobiography. If an author is saying things that completely break with known information, don’t accept what you read until you get another source to back it up.)
Are there impossible things recollected? (Like maybe the author says he was present at every battle of the American Revolution. That’s not possible.)
Does the author’s recollection match what is largely known and accepted about the time?

REVIEW CHECKLIST:

Author: Scholar? Y N

Author: If a scholar, do you know his/her experience and affiliations? Y N

Author: Some experience writing? Y N

Author: Explains reason for writing? Y N

Autobiography: Author credible? Y N

Autobiography: Author explains if book was written on the spot or dictated years later? Y N

Book: Understand argument? Y N

Book: Argument easy to figure out? Y N

Book: Writing easy to follow? Y N

Book: Can you explain why the writing was easy or difficult to follow? Y N

(Cite one example.)

Book: Relevant pictures, etc. present? Y N

Book: Did pictures, etc. help? Y N

Book: Anything you don’t understand? Y N

Book: Bias evident? Y N

Book: I enjoyed reading this book. Y N

(Cite example.)

Autobiography book: Information is credible? Y N

Autobiography book: Comfortable with level of detail? Y N
Why? Too much detail for a recollection? Y N

(Cite example - conversations repeated verbatim years later, clothing depicted perfectly years later, etc. These things may not be evidence of a problem, but should be noted.)

Why? Not enough detail? Y N

(Cite example – is key data missing?)

Research: Bibliography and notes present? Y N

Research: Bibliography and notes look solid and thorough? Y N

Research: Information cited? Y N

Research: Enough information is present in the book to back up the argument? Y N

Autobiography Research: Information is backup up by outside scholar? Y N

Autobiography Research: Pictures or documents that prove author claims present? Y N

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