Anne Moody's autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, depicts the various stages of her life from childhood, to high school, then to college, and ends with her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. This work is a story of the coming of age of a young black girl in Mississippi during a time period when racism towards black was present. In the novel, Anne tells the reader her story through events, conversations, and emotional struggles. The reader can interpret various elements of cultural knowledge that Anne Moody learned from her family and community as a child. Her understanding of the culture and race relations of the time period was shaped by many forces. Anne Moody's family, community, education, interactions with various races, and experiences outside of her hometown shaped her into a devout activist for equal rights. As a child, the most important elements of cultural knowledge Anne Moody learned were the roles of blacks and whites, along with the rule that blacks could not challenge the class system.
As she was developing and socializing during her childhood, Anne's family, specifically her Mama, hindered her outlook and insight on the relationship between the races. Her mama wanted to keep Anne protected from any racial tension by advising her to not act a certain way around whites. Her Mama kept her out of the loop of racial issues at the time by not allowing her to ask questions. An example was when Anne asked her Mama what the NAACP was, and her mom told her not to ask questions related to race. Since the rural south of Mississippi was a prime area where racism and prejudice were present, Anne's mama was scared for their safety. From an early age, Anne's mama starts to portray race relations and boundaries to Anne. For example, one time, when she went to go watch a movie, she saw her white friends and wanted to join them. Therefore Anne attempted to enter through the white entrance of the theater, but her Mama stopped her frantically and scolded her for trying to go through the white entrance. From an early age, Anne started to notice a color line between blacks and whites. Anne's childhood was full of instances where she noticed racial inequality, but she couldn't get an explanation for why this occurred, primarily because her mother didn't want her to get caught up in trying to go against the order of things.
Another force that shaped Moody's thoughts on race was her interactions with the whites that she worked for within her hometown. This started her questioning of why there was an emphasis on distinction based on race. Anne's job description consisted of cooking, cleaning, ironing, and maintaining houses for whites in her community. With each family Moody worked for, the anger within her grew and the prejudice toward her also grew. Moody expresses how much she desperately wanted to understand the racial inequality that was a part of her world. Some of the kind whites educated her, while others tried to engrain...