sippi, was kidnapped and brutally murdered. Till’s
murder symbolized to her the mean sickness, the
cancer ravishing the body of white Mississippians
and other white southerners. Equally appalling,
however, was her mother’s seeming lack of interest
and that of other black residents of her commu-
nity, and in particular her white employer’s indif-
ference to Till’s murder as well as her contempt for
the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP).
In the fall of 1959, Moody was awarded a bas-
ketball scholarship to Natchez Junior College
(NJC). Upon her arrival she immediately found
herself on the wrong side of the staff and admin-
istration, a result of clashes with the women’s
basketball coach and the dean of the college. Re-
markably strong willed, Moody had refused to
submit to perceived injustices. She found herself
in trouble once again with NJC staff when she
led a boycott to protest the discovery of maggots
in the grits served to students. Called in to face
NJC’s President Grant, Moody calmly pointed to
the source of the problem: a leaking shower above
the kitchen pantry. Impressed, President Grant not
only had the repair done but encouraged Moody
to apply for available full-paying tuition at four-
year institutions. Moody’s outstanding grades at
NJC and high exam scores resulted in her receiv-
ing a full-tuition scholarship to Tougaloo College,
reportedly the best black college in Mississippi.
At Tougaloo, the 21-year-old became actively
involved with the campus chapter of the NAACP,
although she was worried about the harm that
might come to her or members of her family.
Moody also developed a close friendship with Joan
Trumpauer, a white student who was a secretary
for the Student Non-violent Coordinating Com-
mittee (SNCC). Moody became actively involved
in the voter registration drive in the Greenwood
and Greenville areas of the Mississippi Delta.
Moody wrote, “That summer I could feel myself
beginning to change. For the first time I began to
think that something would be done about whites
killing, beating and misusing Negroes. I knew
I was going to be a part of whatever happened”
(254). She enthusiastically attended the 1962 State
NAACP convention in Jackson, although, out of
fear of retaliation, her participation was discour-
aged and strongly rebuked by her mother and
other family members.
When NJC delayed the approval of transfer
credits to Tougaloo College, Moody’s graduation
plans for spring 1963 were delayed; however, she
saw this as an opportunity to be further involved
the Civil Rights movement. She wrote, “It no longer
seemed important to prove anything. I had found
something outside of myself that gave meaning to
my life.” Moody immersed herself in sit-in dem-
onstrations and mass meetings, and she conducted
nonviolent defensive workshops for potential
demonstrators, primarily high school- and col-
lege-age students. Moody and her associates per-
sisted, although they were verbally and physically
abused by rowdy white youth and on one occasion
attacked by dogs under the direction of local law
enforcement officers, who later arrested them.
On June 12, 1963, black Mississippians and
black Americans in general were shocked by the
news of the brutal murder of Medgar Evers, a vet-
eran and the Mississippi NAACP field secretary, in
the driveway of his home. Driven by the despair
and internal schisms in Jackson’s black commu-
nity, Moody volunteered to help the Congress of
Racial Equality (CORE) open a voter registration
office in Canton, Mississippi, in Madison County,
which had a reputation for violence against blacks
although blacks outnumbered whites three to one.
However, fear of white retribution subsided among
blacks as more internal support came from black
church leaders and businesspeople for nightly reg-
istration workshops.
A final major turning point in her life came
when Moody was deeply affected by the September
1963 bombing of a black church in Birmingham in
which four black girls were killed. She questioned
the fairness of a god who would allow this to hap-
pen and, in a moment of rhetorical blasphemy,
declared, “I will be my own God.” She also con-
cluded that nonviolence was dead. Depression,
stress, and weight loss led Moody to take a leave of
absence from her political activities. Her physical
and emotional condition was further exacerbatedMoody, Anne 365