Essay - Given the Nurture and Nature Dichotomy, People are Born with...

Given the nurture and nature dichotomy, people are born with certain traits and tendencies. However, the incidents and people in their lives will also significantly impact the directions they choose in life. Such was the case with Anne Moody. She may not have realized it then, but even early in her life Moody's path was chosen: she would do whatever it took to help end the degradation of blacks, especially ***** Mississippi.

***** Moody (Essie May) became greatly aw***** of the differences between whites and blacks as a young child:

h*****d never thought of them as white before. Now all of a sudden they were white, and their whiteness made them better than me. I know ***** that not only were ***** better than me because they were white, but everything they owned and everything connected with them was better ***** available to me. (26)

It did not take Moody long to start questioning this difference between ***** ***** *****. By the time she was 15, her outspokenness on the inequities and hatred against the blacks separated her from most of ***** disheartened black community. The death of Emmet Til moved her ***** more. She began to see those around her as cowards ***** participants in ***** oppression.

A hated the white men who murdered Emmet Til and I ***** ***** the other whites ***** were responsible for he countless murders Mrs. Rice had told me about and those I vaguely re*****mbered from *****hood. But I also hated Negroes. I hated them ***** not st**********g up and doing something about the murders. *****n fact, I think I ***** a stronger resentment toward Negroes for letting the whites kill them than ***** the whites. (110)

Moody knew that she had to leave her home*****wn. She felt stifled and ***** that this was not place to initiate change. "If I ever got involved in farm*****g, I'd be just like Mama and ***** rest ***** them, and that I ***** ***** have the chance" (89). ***** struck out on her own, recognizing that it was time ***** in ***** fight ***** injustice. She worked diligently as a civil rights activist with the C*****gress of Racial Equality and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She also spoke and participated in civil ***** activities such as the Woolworth's luncheon sit-in. At times, including when working ***** s*****port voter registration, she ***** fearful for her *****. Activists were being killed, and Moody's name was on a Ku Klux Kl*****n ***** list.

***** activism ***** concerned her mo*****r—not only because she was fearful ***** ***** daughter's safety, ***** because she was concerned ***** the impact on her ***** family's life in Centreville. *****t did not take long for the news of Moody's protests to travel back home, and the anti-black contingency were extremely angry. "In the letter she (***** mother) told me that the sheriff had stopped by and asked all kinds ***** questions about me the morning after the sit-in... '***** whites are pretty