What are the most Difficult Obstacles to Black Progress in the Jim Crow South?

For Anne Moody, what were some of the most difficult obstacles to black progress—both within and outside of the African-American community—in the Jim Crow South? What degree of success did she and others achieve in addressing those obstacles? What was her perspective on her own past and future, and on the past and future of her country, by the book’s end?

The dictionary defines racism as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” Racism is one of the worst things to ever come about in the history of America. What began as feelings among whites of being superior to African Americans turned into one of the worst circumstances the United States ever dealt with and is still dealing with today. Even 100 years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, many white people were still treating blacks poorly. It took several years before blacks were given truly equal rights that white Americans were given. In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she discusses growing up in Mississippi. She writes about her memories of transitioning between childhood, high school, college, and finally her courageous work in the civil rights movement during the 1960s.

Growing up in the Jim Crow South predisposed Anne Moody to obstacles that she would have to face each and every day. Each one of these obstacles however was able to prepare her for having a major impact in the civil rights movement. She had to go through many different occasions of adversity growing up such as being beaten, having her house burned down and moving schools. Anne Moody is faced with basic challenges that kids growing up in ...

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...and the mock elections. What they should have been focusing on was helping the African Americans purchase their own land. “We had “dreamers” instead of leaders leading us.” (307) How much of an effect did Anne Moody have as a Civil Rights activist and would it be enough to provoke change?

The things Anne Moody went through helped her become a strong and independent woman. She grew strong feelings toward racism and realized that if she did not make a stand for the rights of African Americans in Mississippi then no one would. Moody shows why the civil rights movement was such a necessity and the intensity of the injustices it had to correct by showing how black Americans got equal rights because of the untiring efforts young people, like Anne Moody, had. Without the efforts of these young people, the role of Black Americans in society may have been different today.