The mid-twentieth century was not an ideal time for the black communities in Mississippi. Coming of Age in Mississippi is a memoir published in the year of 1968 by a woman activist named Anne Moody from an African-American background. The book is a wonderful resource to actualize how it felt to be a black woman in the fifties and sixties.
The book is full of real-life events that give us a very detailed idea about the existing concepts of race, social class, and citizenship especially from the viewpoint of a young black girl, the memoir discusses how hard life could be if you are from the lower class, ignored race struggling to make both ends meet and lack any form of recognized sense of citizenship. The book is a wonderful resource for everyone to understand what race meant in the fifties and sixties and how the black families used to life and fed their children.
Race in simplest terms can be defined as the characteristic features in terms of geographic distribution, genetics or appearance present in a specific group of people. However, to many people race meant the inferiority of black people. The memoir clearly indicates that the black and white relationships could only be the one of master and a slave. Blacks are not capable of doing anything. They lack any ability to present themselves as civilized as the white mean and the main characters that believe in the race include Mrs. Burke. She believed that the black race is inferior and is not capable enough to handle the tasks like the white men do.
The concept of race is evident in all the sections of the memoir. Starting from the “childhood” to “Movement” the race is evident everywhere. Using the real examples from her life, the author has used to exemplify that how difficult it was for the African-American family to live in the white dominating society. Starting from the unequal opportunities to difference in restaurants, separate divisions in the transport and several other aspects of racial discrimination are well portrayed in the memoir.
The concept of race for Moody emerged very early in her life. During her school, the death of the black boy who came from Chicago forced her to hate both black and white. She hated black for keeping their mouth, eyes and ears shut and white for treating the black no different than animals. Her perception of the society segments changed dramatically, and she started to believe that race accompanied by the bottom of the social segment can harm the human lives and can ruin any opportunities for growth. She knew how she was paid few pennies and some milk for working at the house of an old white woman. She also experienced the painful reality of her early childhood when her mother worked whole days for so little to feed her family.
Black social status was strategically pulled down. In the memoir, Moody exemplified that white-controlled the agricultural yield for the black and they were not allowed to get the yield more than they were authorized for.
After reading the memoir and self-reflection of the Moody, it becomes clear that the black existence, opportunities, and resources were continuously spread with the basic intention to limit them in the lowest possible class of the society. They were not allowed to live in white communities, and their yield was calculated. It would be right to say that black were given even lesser than they could survive. After working hours, they were paid in cents just to make sure they live and come to work the very next day.
Political awareness and emerging anti-racial campaigns like NAACP were the only hope left for the black survival in the eyes of Moody. Her main focus remained on the lack of resistance from the black community. She believed that black were equally responsible for their present day condition, in fact, more than the white because they allow white people to rule than and use them the way they want.
Citizenship can be defined as a privilege under which an individual is considered a part of a geographic unit. The citizens make the societies and, unfortunately, this was not the case in the mid-twentieth century. Blacks were considered inferior, less able and built for working for white men like animals. There existed no concept of equality or any right or privilege of citizenship. They were not allowed to vote, interact face to face with white citizens and even had their separate churches.
Being a black meant no different than an animal on two feet. In these conditions Moody and many like her believed in fighting for the rights of black. They asked for equality and elimination of any silly differentiating concepts like division of the rail, separate restaurants and churches for religious practices. Moody continuously faced torture, and she also narrates that she was multiple times dragged yards away from her hair (266).
The law enforcement agencies also opposed black units. Forces constituted of white men tend to be violent when black raised their voice and when white tortured the black they used to stand still like nothing is happening. The prevailing conditions left not much space for the Moody and her fellow radicals. They had just two options either to strike back with some force or to raise their voice to the equality. With the passage of time Moody got more mature and learnt the lesson that the equality cannot be won using violence and raising the voice for the rights is the strongest tool her and supports of anti-race campaign had (267).
There exist a strong relationship between race, class and citizenship. Furthermore, these three elements worked together with each other and acted like the main agenda of several anti-racial movements. The racial differentiation leads to the social segmentation that eventually influences the citizenship and the equality among citizens. This concept forced the majority of white people to think of the African American in a different way on one hand and on the other hand also facilitated the black communities by providing them a platform to raise their voice. It would be right to say that the rights black communities have are primarily driven from the similar motives of race, class and citizenship.
The Mississippi was a place where black were totally in control of white men. Officially slavery was considered bad, or it apparently vanished from the society but in reality it changed its shape and in certain aspects influenced the lives of black communities more than slavery did. Black officially were free, but the social systems were tailored in a way to set the black community back no different than slavery. No matter we talk about education, facilities, housing, wages or any other necessity of life, they were intentionally pushed behind to maintain a visible distinction between white and black. The elements of racial equality, class and citizenship played a vital role in parallel to make sure the system gradually adopt the black masses in a logical and tolerable way.
The struggle for racial equality is not over yet. It in some way or other will last for coming centuries. However, one thing can be said for sure that no rights can be given to the African American communities until or unless they are willing to take them. Yet there is a long journey ahead and people of both races should work together to eliminate the social disease of racial discrimination from the society because in the presence of this incurable social infection, America cannot progress as if the house is splitting apart, every enemy is ready to give it a push.
Work Cited
Moody, Anne. Coming Of Age In Mississippi. New York: Dial Press, 1968. Print.
