Coming of Age in Mississippi
by Anne Moody

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Book Reviews of Coming of Age in Mississippi

Book Review: A SEARING PORTRAIT OF THE DEEP SOUTH...
Summary: 5 Stars

Written by Ms. Moody when she was twenty eight, it is a damning portrait of what life was like for African-Americans in the deep south. It tells of parallel lifestyles that were preordained and dependent upon whether one were black or one were white.

If one were black, one was destined to a lifetime of poverty, because job opportunities were limited to bottom of the rung jobs with no opportunity for growth and which were designed by their very nature to keep one subservient. It tells of schools so substandard as to make one non-competitive in the larger world. It tells of dilapidated and ramshackle housing without indoor plumbing that was the lot of many blacks in the rural south.

It describes the fear that was palpable in one's every day life, if one were black; a fear of making a white person angry, because the consequences that would follow could end up costing one dearly. It sums up the daily indignities that were a part of growing up black in the rural south in the mid twentieth century. It is a story of frustration and anger at the inequities that were found in every day living. It is the story of how one young woman dealt with that system and survived to become a civil rights activist at a time when to be such was tantamount to asking for trouble of a deadly nature.

Well told and deftly drawn, the author conveys a real sense of the times in which she grew up. She ably captures an era in America that should not be forgotten, if only to remind the reader that it was not that long ago that some Americans were treated like second class citizens. Unfortunately, despite best intentions, some still are, though it is now done in more covert, rather than overt, fashion. We, as Americans, may have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go in eliminating the inequities which still exist in our society. Ms. Moody's autobiography serves to remind us that the past was not all that long ago and, in some measure, is still with us today.

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