Coming of Age In Mississippi is an autobiography written by Anne Moody, a civil rights activist, in 1968. This book is the tell-all tale of the average African American woman growing up in the rural Mississippi in the mid-20th century. Anne Moody was one of a kind. While most of the civil rights activists were middle-class or wealthy, Anne Moody was the complete opposite. She tells her life story of the oppressed, young, black woman. Moody covers her childhood from age four, college experience, and up until her twenties while being involved in the civil rights movement. Being born in 1940, Essie Mae, also known as Anne Moody, one would believe that she knew all about racism and the oppression of being black. Outspoken and positive individuals did not surround her, so all of her knowledge was self-taught. Her mother raised Moody once her father took off from their family. Moody’s mother was an older African American woman that was the epitome of fearful. Because of this, Moody was never taught as a young adult about the normality and belief of racial superiority. Growing up, she learned of all these elements on her own. “I’m still haunted by dreams of the time we lived on Mr. Carter’s plantation” (Moody 1). Anne Moody had an enduring childhood. Moody was raised by both of her parents on a planation of a white man named Mr. Carter. Her parents worked for Mr. Carter on his plantation, which was why they were able to live in a shack on his land. One day, Moody’s uncle baby-sat her and her little sister while her parents worked. Upset because he had to baby-sit George-Lee, the uncle, mistakenly set the house on fire and blamed Anne for it. This foreshadows the tyranny and injustice that’s considered normal to blacks during this time. Eventually, Diddly, her father, abandons the family for a woman named Florence. Florence was a high yellow mulatto with straight black hair (Moody 11). After the separation, Moody and her family began moving to different houses throughout the town. While working for a white family, Moody’s mother was able to bring leftover food home. “That was when I discovered that white folks ate different from us (Moody 29).” Moody was not accustomed to the finer si