if you are uncomfortable with the reality of racism, this is NOT the book for you. ann moody lived in a very revolutionary time in america's histor... (show more)
Coming of Age in Mississippi
Born to a poor couple who were tenant farmers on a plantation in Mississippi, Anne Moody lived through some of the most dangerous days of the pre-civil rights era in the South. The week before she began high school came the news of Emmet Till’s lynching. Before then, she had "known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was…the fear of being killed just because I was black." In that moment was born the passion for freedom and justice that would change her life.
... (show more)
Born to a poor couple who were tenant farmers on a plantation in Mississippi, Anne Moody lived through some of the most dangerous days of the pre-civil rights era in the South. The week before she began high school came the news of Emmet Till’s lynching. Before then, she had "known the fear of hunger, hell, and the Devil. But now there was…the fear of being killed just because I was black." In that moment was born the passion for freedom and justice that would change her life.
An all-A student whose dream of going to college is realized when she wins a basketball scholarship, she finally dares to join the NAACP in her junior year. Through the NAACP and later through CORE and SNCC she has first-hand experience of the demonstrations and sit-ins that were the mainstay of the civil rights movement, and the arrests and jailings, the shotguns, fire hoses, police dogs, billy clubs and deadly force that were used to destroy it.
A deeply personal story but also a portrait of a turning point in our nation’s destiny, this autobiography lets us see history in the making, through the eyes of one of the footsoldiers in the civil rights movement. (show less)
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The first half of this book was amazing. I breezed through it like it was nothing. The family was intriguing and I enjoyed the way Moody was tellin... (show more)
The first half of this book was amazing. I breezed through it like it was nothing. The family was intriguing and I enjoyed the way Moody was telling the story. The humanity was what captivated me and kept me reading.
And then, around half-way through, she gave up on it. The story became all about Moody’s personal vendettas and her own bitterness. The story of her relationship with her family and the people around her went out the window, only mentioned again when it suited her, and the book became more a constant preaching of anger and “and I was kind of amazing, myself”.
I went from sympathizing with Moody and being intrigued by her to being disgusted by her in a few chapters.
And that’s the problem with memoirs. I get pissy when the writer thinks too highly of themselves and loses sight of the real thing that makes life interesting: Relationships. Not how many rallies you went to and how many jobs you held. I honestly didn’t give a rat’s ass about any of the people she met in the last half of the book. And it upset me. (show less)
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It was interesting to read about someone involved in the Civil Rights Movement before the outcome was determined (the book was written in 1968). It's amazing to me that as many people stayed involved in the Movement with so many threats to their lives, not to mention people being beaten and murdered for just being black or associating with African- Americans. What people did was truly courageous.
The book is actually not merely about Moody's involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. It... (show more)
It was interesting to read about someone involved in the Civil Rights Movement before the outcome was determined (the book was written in 1968). It's amazing to me that as many people stayed involved in the Movement with so many threats to their lives, not to mention people being beaten and murdered for just being black or associating with African- Americans. What people did was truly courageous.
The book is actually not merely about Moody's involvement with the Civil Rights Movement. It is about her childhood growing up as a daughter of tenant farmers, then raised by a single mother and later with a step-father. It is about what life was like for an African-American girl in rural Mississippi prior to the Civil Rights Movement. The reader gets a really good picture of why Moody was motivated to try to change things. I would like to know whether Moody is alive today and what happened next, after the book leaves off. (show less)
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An amazing book about courage and dignity in the face of violence and injustice deep in Jim Crow South during the 1940s and 1950s. Anne Moody is just one of the courageous Civil Rights workers who fought for basic constitutional rights. She tells her story in a matter of fact way--which is comforting and refreshing, because the story is being told as is. Often harrowing , Moody's book describes a side of Civil Rights that we don't see when we learn about it in high school: The absolute des... (show more)
An amazing book about courage and dignity in the face of violence and injustice deep in Jim Crow South during the 1940s and 1950s. Anne Moody is just one of the courageous Civil Rights workers who fought for basic constitutional rights. She tells her story in a matter of fact way--which is comforting and refreshing, because the story is being told as is. Often harrowing , Moody's book describes a side of Civil Rights that we don't see when we learn about it in high school: The absolute despair, the ever constant threat of lynching, the fear and indifference within African American society at the time, and the seeming hopelessness of a future that seems to never come. (show less)
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