Blacks In The South example essay topic

The first main event that I believe led to Anne Moody becoming an activist for Civil Rights was when she was younger, her cousin George Lee was babysitting and he burned down the house in a fit of rage and when Daddy gets home he blames it on Essie Mae (Anne Moody). This foreshadows all of life's injustices that will be thrown her way. The next time was when she made friends with white neighbors and they decided to go to the movies, Anne couldn't sit with her friends, she had to sit in the balcony with all of the other blacks. She did not understand why it was this way.

Another event was when she was in high school, she changes her name to Anne Moody, and a white boy, whose name was Emmitt Till who was visiting from Chicago, whistled at a white girl, and then a group of white men murdered him. This bothered Ann, and she didn't work or sleep for days. When Samuel O'Quinn, a black empowerment activist and NAACP member tried to organize a meeting, the Principle Willis, who is an Uncle Tom, tattled on him. Samuel was shot by a mob of white men. The first experience of a civil rights movement was when she was attending Natchez College in Mississippi. The lunch lady served food with maggots in it.

The cook, Miss Harris, knew that the food was spoiled but didn't care. Anne organized a protest and it was successful. This was a hint of what was yet to come from Anne. Blacks in the south didn't know what it was like to be equal to whites. They " ve been told their entire life that they weren't equal and never will be.

The Anne came into so many peoples lives. She showed them that they could be equal. The only difference was the color of the skin. She taught them that that wasn't even a big difference. She fought segregation her entire life. The most drastic incident that happened to Anne was when she was working in Canton, Mississippi for a cause of voter registration.

People involved in the movement are dying left and right, and this becomes very discouraging to her. She finds out that she is on the black list and fears for her life. She finds out that her family is also afraid and they stop talking to her. She quits her job and moves back to Canton and goes back to her family. She sees how complacent her family is and this frustrates her. Her family treated her like a stranger, and when she graduated from Tougaloo, no one showed up for her graduation.

In the end of the book, McKinley is murdered in front of nonviolent civil rights activists. Anne Moody wonders if things will ever work out. Growing up in the north, and being white, we were taught in school what the conditions were in the south and all over America for blacks. I never really thought much of it, like many kids my age, because it never affected me. I've been told by teachers, speakers, and whoever else my school would bring in to tell us about what it was like for blacks back in the 1940's and the 1950's.

After I read the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, I realized what it was really like for blacks back then. I never realized what it was like and all that they had to go through. It really hit home when Anne Moody talked about when she graduated from Tougaloo, none of her family showed up because they weren't appreciative for what Anne did for them. If it wasn't for her, I think that we would have segregation, but not as bad. She did a wonderful thing for the black community. Everyone should be appreciative for her.