History
305
Devine
Spring
2011
Study
Questions for Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi
- What were
Anne Moody’s most important early childhood experiences? What was her
family’s life like? What hardships
did she have to endure?
- Describe
Anne’s (Essie Mae’s) early contacts with whites. How does she learn that whites and
African Americans are different?
- How does
Anne learn that “race” is a social construct – that society dictates who
is “white” and who is “black?”
- How would
you describe relations between blacks and whites in Mississippi when Anne
was a young girl? How did whites in
rural Mississippi exercise power over blacks?
- Who was
Emmett Till and why was he murdered?
What effect does his death have on Anne? How does she react to it?
- What are
the differences between Anne and her mother? Why does one gravitate toward the
Movement while the other fears it?
- Does Anne
hate white people? Does she act differently toward whites than did most
blacks in rural Mississippi? Does
her attitude toward whites change throughout the book?
- Does Anne hate black people? Is she justified in her hostility or is
it misplaced?
- Did
Anne’s activities in the NAACP and SNCC provide fulfillment, frustration,
a sense of accomplishment? Why did
she join these organizations?
- Why did
the Movement put such emphasis on the voter registration campaign? By
securing blacks the vote, what were activists hoping to achieve? Why was it so hard for them to achieve
their goals?
- What was
the atmosphere of Mississippi like for a civil rights worker? In what kind of an environment did they
work? How did this atmosphere take an emotional toll on Anne?
- In Anne’s
view, what factors – economic, political, social
– have caused the terrible conditions for blacks in rural Mississippi?
- What is
Anne's attitude toward organized religion? Does it change as her life
progresses? How does she feel about the black ministers? Do you agree with
her views?
- Why is
Anne critical of Martin Luther King, Jr.?
- Why is
Anne skeptical of MLK's commitment to non-violent resistance? Does she offer a viable alternative to
King's strategy?
- How does
Anne’s gender – the fact that she is a woman – affect how she relates to
other people and how other people relate to her? To what extent does her being a woman
shape her experiences in the Movement?
- Do Anne's
efforts in the Movement really accomplish anything? Why does she often
fear that all her work is in vain?
- Why does
Anne leave the Movement? How did
her brief stays in Baton Rouge and New Orleans affect her? Why does she
return to Mississippi?
- Why are
young people a key component of the Movement?
- One
commentator has remarked about Coming of Age in Mississippi, “The
relationship between fear and power is at the center of this book. Only by overcoming the former does one
achieve the latter.” What does he
mean by this?
- Would you
say this book ends on a note of hope or despair?