While our son is reading Coming of Age in Mississippi, it’s a good time to reflect on our own love for our state….a love and acceptance that Mississippi is not perfect, but it is worthy of love. We are both the daughters of families raised in the segregated South. Our parents experienced the dynamic time period that was the civil rights era, the Vietnam war, the rise to fame of Elvis, our alma mater coming under Marshall Law, and eventually the removal of the Confederate battle emblem from our state flag.
We’ve heard stories of the history they endured while growing up in Mississippi, but Ann Moody’s memoir, published in 1968, offers another vantage point. It’s a primary source that does not pretend to have all the answers. The child who grew up in a shack adjacent to the landowner’s mansion in Centreville transforms both physically and in name. She looks at those around her and questions why they remain content with the status quo while they question what’s wrong with the way things are.
It’s part of being in Mississippi. We see its flaws, and we love it in spite of them. We see room for improvement and know change is slow to come. We don’t give up, and when we see our community members struggle, we rally to support them.
– Olivia