Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer: 

Book: COMING OF AGE IN MISSISSIPPI

And if you did not read the book, don’t even bother to check in. I will be able to tell right away and I plan to trash your responses hard if you dare try to B.S. your way past me

•    Write a response of reasonable length that addresses all parts of each question. Use multiple examples from the book to support your response and prove you indeed read and understood the book. Don't just rely on one example only; make use of a wide variety of examples to make your points clear, unambiguous, and indisputable.  

1)    Does Anne hate black people? Is she justified in her hostility or is it misplaced? Why were some African-Americans more willing than others to support the Civil Rights Movement? What are the tensions that existed within the black communities that often pitted one group against another?

2)    What were the most significant barriers and challenges that movement workers like Anne Moody encountered in their struggle for Civil Rights? In other words, what made achieving success so difficult?

3)    Did Anne’s activities in the NAACP and SNCC provide fulfillment, or frustration, or a sense of accomplishment? Why did she join these organizations? 

4)    What is Anne's attitude toward Christianity? Does it change as her life progresses? How does she feel about the black ministers leading the demonstrations?

5)    How does Anne feel about Medgar Evers? Why is Anne critical of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Why is Anne skeptical of MLK's commitment to non-violent resistance? 



6)    How does Anne’s gender – the fact that she is a woman – affect how she relates to other people and how other people relate to her? To what extent does her being a woman shape her experiences in the movement? Describe a few examples from the text where her gender became an obstacle for her. 

7)    Why did the movement put such emphasis on the voter registration campaign? By securing blacks the vote, what were activists hoping to achieve? Why was it so hard for them to achieve their goals?

8)    What was the atmosphere of Mississippi like for a civil rights worker? In what kind of an environment did they work? How did this atmosphere take an emotional toll on Anne? What about the physical toll the movement took on Anne - describe that with examples too.

9)    One commentator has remarked about Coming of Age in Mississippi, “The relationship between fear and power is at the center of this book. Only by overcoming the former does one achieve the latter.” What does he mean by this? Provide examples from the text. 

10)    How did this book change or enhance your understanding of the Civil Rights Movement? What new insights did you learn about the personal lives of the black activists who worked and struggled in the movement? What kinds of obstacles did activists have to deal with that you never knew were issues until reading this memoir?

11)    When and how does the reader begin to see Anne Moody’s political consciousness begin to emerge? Why and when does she become interested in helping the movement? 

12)    What kind of support systems were in place for civil rights workers like Anne Moody? Who did they have in their private lives to rely on, if anybody? Or did most of them “go it alone”? Who did Anne have to rely or depend on to help her through her darkest days as a Civil Rights worker? 

13)    In what ways did Anne Moody’s childhood experiences prepare her for a life of activism in the movement? Be sure to bring up more than one or two examples.

14)    In what specific ways does this book shatter the myth that ALL black Americans pulled together in unity to support and work in the movement? Be sure to bring up many examples. 

15)    How does Anne feel about white people? What about her white allies in the movement? Does Anne hate white people?  

16)    Why do you think Anne Moody wrote this memoir? Who do you think was her intended audience? Why? Use examples for the text to make your case.