Book Reviews of Coming of Age in Mississippi

This autobiography starts in the 1940's and describes the way it was to grow up in a racist society. Anne speaks of the poverty,illegitimacy, police brutality,lynchings and the ugliness she had to face. She had the courage to participate in sit ins, demonstrations and to speak up for what she believed in. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the brutality of the south during the movement. Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King are also a part of this fine book.

A thought provoking classic autobiography of growing up poor and black in the rural south during the 1940s and 50s by Anne Moody. Vividly told, this is a real page turning that shows how much things have changed in the last 50 and 60 years, and how much things (sadly) have stayed the same. I was born during the mid-60s so don't remember this era, and this book is the most thoroughly educational on the trials of civil rights movement I've read. I was truly moved.

This is a great story of an african american girl growing up in a hostile south. She isn't a slave but sometimes it felt like it. I highly recommend this book to anyone intersted in the south's history toward african americans.

This is a fascinating autobiography. Anne Moody is a very strong woman and stood up against Mr. Charlie-- often when no other Negro would. I think this is a must have for anyone interested in studying the Civil Rights movement. It's a unique ground-based view of the movement that really ties events together and shows how the movement was in areas besides Birmingham.

The prose isn't that hard to read, and while it is an extremely interesting book, it isn't exactly a page turner. That being said, it's an excellent book.

Memoir of Anne Moody. Slow , but good reading. Enjoyed it, but, was saddened .

This is a good book for anyone interested in reading about the civil rights movement. It's the biography of a young lady who was actively involved in this movement, including what it was like for her growing up in Mississippi.

If you are interested in the civil rights movement back in the 50's and 60's, this book is for you. Autobiography of a young black woman growing up in the south (Mississippi) from the age of 4 through her college years. Very good read. dg

A very good book to read I really enjoyed it.
Mattie B.

Very enlightening and distrubing account of the authors grwoing up in Missisppi.

ENCROSSING, SENSITIVE, BEAUTIFUL. YOU CAN'T PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

an unforgettable personal story, growing up black in Mississippi, during the 40's and 50's ....surviving with pride and courage intact!

Read this in college - great first person narrative of being black and poor in Mississippi in the forties and fifties. Clear and unflinching prose.

I truly enjoyed the beginning of this book but the end was extremely dry and not very interesting, IMO.

good textbook.

This was the pick for my book club and I wasn't really looking forward to it. I was pleasently suprized to find that it was an easy read. Not at all like some of the other non-fictions that I had read. There were some parts that were slow-going and hard to get throught and it took a while to get used to the uneducated slang during the first part of the book. I wasn't happy with the ending, but only because it just ended. I'm sure you could look up the legal records to find out what happened, but it would have been nice to have it there for you

Anne Moody in her memoir recounts growing up in the Jim Crow law south, as well as her involvement in the Civil Rights movement as a young adult. She was one of the women at the famous Woolworth's lunch counter sit-in. Here we get to see her first-hand thoughts and memories of the struggle growing up surrounded by institutionalized racism, as well as the difficulties in fighting it.

Here we get to see real-life, personal anecdotes that back up the studies into black history published in the 1990s and early 2000s. Anne's mother and father break up early in her life at least partly due to stress from poverty and racism. Anne's mother only takes three weeks off to give birth to her baby. Anne's first taste of good food is the leftovers her mother brings home from the white family she works for, and much much more.

Anne from approximately the age of 10 through highschool works as a domestic servant in white people's homes. She's saving up money for college as well as helping to support her family. The stress from the KKK's violent activities in her hometown take a toll on her physically and emotionally, but also inspire her early activism.

This memoir was published in 1968 and at times Moody's youthfulness is abundantly clear. She is frustrated with every black person not actively involved in The Movement. She seems to be incapable of seeing things from other perspectives. Yes, it is her youthfulness that gives her courage, but it also sometimes blinds her. She can be very judgmental of the other black youth around her, but that is a common fault in the young. Her passion and courage are still incredibly admirable. The fact that she kept fighting and trying in the face of so much failure early on in The Movement is inspiring. It takes people like her, leaders like her, to enact social change. We could use more of them.

Check out my full review (Link will be live on October 22nd).

Rings very true, as a Mississippi woman myself.

Depressing, but imoprtant to read.

Did not read this one yet.

A classic autobiography of growing up poor and black in the rural south. Written without sentimentality of apology, this is an unforgettable personal story. To read her book is to know what it is to have grown up black in Mississippi in the forties and fifties.

A firsthand account of growing up in segregated Mississippi. Very well written.

Good book,historical,sad,moving,and uplifting