The Troubles In Anne Moody's Life

Anne Moody had many obstacles to overcome to become the woman in history that many look up to today. From her troubled childhood with her uncle and father, their financial instability, different jobs, violence and racism, and the NAACP throughout her college years and beyond. These events are what molded her into woman that would stand with great figures in history such MLK. Anne Moody’s troubles begin on a plantation where she lives with her mother, Toosweet, father, Diddly, and Adline her younger sister. Their parents work on the plantation and while away Toosweet’s eight-year-old younger brother would watch over Moody and Adline. He was very abusive and then accidently set fire to the house but blamed Moody. Later down the road the family
Burke. Burke was an older white racist woman who hired Moody to be her maid. During this time, Moody had just started high school and news let out that Emmitt Till, a young black boy, was murdered a week before school. Although she was always distracted by the murder that had occurred, Moody would do assorted task for Mrs. Burke, from ironing clothes to tutor her son, Wayne, and his peers. Although Moody resented her employer she came to work and did her job adequately and was punctual. Moody had also caught Mrs. Burke in a meeting with some colleagues discussing the murder and the “troublesome” NAACP. Moody would always play dumb with Mrs. Burke when she would bring anything up that had to do with what she overheard at the meeting for her own safety. At that moment is when Moody’s eyes were opened about the rising tension in the racism throughout Mississippi and the so called “Land of the Free.” Mrs. Burke tried relentlessly to diminish Moody’s spirit by giving her menial task or criticize her way of doing thing, “When I first ironed some shirts for her she brought all fifteen of them back for me to redo.” Moody began to get close to Wayne and his friends, Mrs. Burke did not like it. Burke put a stop to the tutoring sessions and she began to push more labor on Moody. Mrs. Burke also tried to frame Junior as a thief when she had asked Moody to bring him along. After that moment, Moody had enough of Mrs. Burk and